PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
April 26, 2005

The Porter County Council met on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 6:30 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, and Dan Whitten. 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.

Mr. Burge, Approval of the minutes from March 22nd.

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the minutes of March 22, 2005 as received. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried unanimously.

FIRST READING

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

CUSTOM MACHINING SERVICES
Compliance with Statement of Benefits

Mr. Burge, Next on the agenda is Custom Machining Services, Compliance with Statement of Benefits. Good evening.

Jack Thompson, Good evening. I’m here to apply for the reinstatement of the tax abatement that you granted in 2002. We have continued growth. We now have 53 employees as opposed to the 27 that we had, 39 of which are Porter County.

Mr. Burge, Okay. Is there any questions from the board? Any discussion?

Mr. Carmichael moved to accept the Compliance with Statement of Benefits submitted by Custom Machining Services. Mr. Whitten and Mrs. Blaney seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, Thank you very much.

Mr. Thompson, Thank you.

HIGHWAY 02
Transfer
$150 from 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies to 3410 All Official Bonds

Mr. Burge, Next item, Highway Department. Good evening.

Al Hoagland, Good evening. I’m just asking for a transfer to cover a bond. We need to bond the engineering secretary due to the monies that are collected in that office.

Mr. Burge, Okay, and that amount is $150.

Mr. Hoagland, Correct.

Mrs. Blaney moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Highway 02, $150 from 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies to 3410 All Official Bonds. Mr. Steel seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Burge, Motion passes.

Mr. Hoagland, Thank you very much.

Mr. Burge, You’re welcome.


HEALTH BIOTERRORISM 238
Additional Appropriation
$1,000 to 3110 Legal
$1,200 to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100
$220 to 2110 Office Supplies
$200 to 3710 Equipment

Mr. Burge, Health Bioterrorism, Health Department. Good evening.

Keith Letta, Good evening. This is from our bioterrorism grant, Fund 238. The additionals are as you see them. This is our grant funds from the state.

Mr. Burge, Okay, so we have $1,000 to Legal; $1,200 to Furniture & Fixtures; $220 for Office Supplies; and $200 for Equipment. Now this does not come from the general fund, right? This is from other…

Mr. Letta, No, this has nothing to do with the county.

Mr. Burge, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Health Bioterrorism 238, $1,000 to 3110 Legal, $1,200 to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100, $220 to 2110 Office Supplies and $200 to 3710 Equipment. Mr. Steele seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, The motion is approved.

Mr. Letta, Thank you.

Mr. Burge, You’re welcome.

ENHANCED ACCESS 186.50
Additional Appropriation
$45,000 to 00010 Enhanced Access

Mr. Burge, Next on the agenda, Enhanced Access. Good evening.

Sharon Lippens, Good evening.

Mr. Burge, Go ahead.

Mrs. Lippens, I’m not sure if you are all familiar with the enhanced access fund or the state’s definition of enhanced access, or if you want me to get into that.

Mrs. Blaney, Please do.

Mr. Burge, Go ahead, yes.

Mrs. Lippens, I thought since there were new members.

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Mrs. Lippens, The state IC code 5-14-3-3.6 allows counties to create a contract between government and private entities for what they term, enhanced access. Enhanced access is described as public access to records through an enhanced media. It’s like a computer, and because there are costs on the county’s side to provide that service, the county is allowed to charge the entities that wish to have that enhanced access to public records a fee to cover the cost that it costs the county. So that is, this has been in place since I’ve been here since 1986.
The fee has changed over the years, as we’ve changed from dedicated phone lines between the different entities in our county. Now we are doing it over the internet, so the fees have gone down, but each year we get more and more subscribers that are interested in the service, because they feel that the monthly is a much, more benefit to them than sending people to the county to research public records.
So that is where the money comes from, and the money is dedicated to paying for maintenance or upgrading of capital equipment that is, or consulting that is used in providing the enhanced access. So it cannot be used for general salaries or things like that, but it can be used for computers or software, different things like that, that relate to providing that service.

Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Enhanced Access 186.50, $45,000 to 00010 Enhanced Access. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, The motion is approved.

Mrs. Lippens, Thank you very much.

PARKS OPERATING 127.85
Additional Appropriation
$1,000 to 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies
$1,000 to 3340 Advertising
$970 to 3980 Event Expenses

Mr. Burge, Okay, up next is the Parks Department. Good evening, Ed. How are you?

Ed Melendez, Good evening. Just fine. It’s good to see everybody again. I’m back with the tourism grant that we receive on a monthly basis. This is payment number three. This is not general fund money. We are using it in the 127.85 account. We have $1,000 going into Printing; $1,000 going into Advertising; and $970 into our Event Expenses. This is for the Gaelic and the Kite Festivals.

Mr. Burge, Very good. Any questions from anyone? Do we have a motion?

Mrs. Blaney moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Parks Operating 127.85, $1,000 to 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies, $1,000 to 3340 Advertising, and $970 to 3980 Event Expenses. Mr. Steele seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, Motion approved; thank you much.

Mr. Melendez, On behalf of the Park Board and park staff, we are cordially inviting you to our 8th Annual Kite Festival on May 7th. At 10:30 in the morning, we are having a formal dedication of our interpretive center, so you’ll be able to meet the educators. Some of the interns and volunteers that we have will give a grand tour of the new building at the site, which will be used for educational programs for the schools, and hopefully, in our adult program coming up in the fall.

Mr. Burge, Very good. Thank you very much.

PORTAGE TOWNSHIP 01.11
Additional Appropriation
$525 to 3210 Travel

Mr. Burge, Next on the agenda, Portage Township.

Mr. Carmichael, Hi, John.

John Scott, Ladies and gentleman of the jury.

Mr. Burge, Good evening.

Mr. Scott, We’re asking for an additional in Travel. It’s something that we were trying to get on the last time we were here, and get all of that stuff so we can just not have to come here anymore. The amount of money that is given to us in the last three years, four years, for Travel was fine until they put the $.34 on. Then when they made it $.34 instead of $.28, it caused an imbalance to our Travel. But we went through all of our expenses for all those years, and that’s just about the percentage of what it costs to do it again, 525-bucks.

Mr. Burge, Okay, so what you are saying, the 28 to 34, that’s the cost reimbursement…

Mr. Scott, It’s…

Mr. Burge, Per mileage.

Mr. Scott, It’s the thing that caused that to raise it up from where it was.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Portage Township 01.11, $525 to 3210 Travel. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, Motion approved, thank you.

Mr. Scott, Thank you.

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP 01.53
Additional Appropriation
$120 to 4510 Data Processing Equipment - Request withdrawn
Transfer
$18,858 from 1110 Salaries to 1120 Hourly

Mr. Burge, Liberty Township. Good evening.

Jean Swanson, I’m dropping the additional that I was asking for. It was covered by Mrs. LaFever’s office, so all I’m asking for is just the transfer.

Mr. Burge, I’m sorry, I had trouble hearing.

Ms. Swanson, The transfer of money from my Salaries to Hourly.

Mr. Burge, Okay, so the additional of $120, you are rescinding it at this point.

Ms. Swanson, Yes.

Mr. Burge, Okay, so the only discussion is the $18,858 from Salaries to Hourly.

Ms. Swanson, Yes.

Mr. Steele, Can you tell us a little bit about why you want to do that? You have Salaries for somebody, now you’re going to--you have an Hourly--give it to more than one person. What are you going to use it for?

Ms. Swanson, I don’t have enough money in my budget to cover a full-time deputy, and pay an hourly salary for part-time help. So I’m just moving that money all into Salaries to, I’m sorry, all into Hourly.

Mr. Steele, So since you don’t have the one employee, you’re going to have more than one employee, and this will be paying these people hourly.

Ms. Swanson, Right now I have three part-time people.

Mrs. Stevenson, Do you understand, once you transfer it, you can’t come back and ask for an additional again?

Ms. Swanson, Yes.

Mrs. Stevenson, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, There’s a savings there with the insurance. You don’t have to provide insurance for the part-time.

Ms. Swanson, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, As opposed to the one full-time where it would require another $600 a month.

Ms. Swanson, Right. My budget is the lowest for the township assessors, and there is just not enough money to do the work, cover that deputy, and to cover part-time, so I’m moving it to part-time.

Mr. Whitten, It makes sense to me.

Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted and amended by Liberty Township 01.53, $18,858 from 1110 Salaries to 1120 Hourly. Mrs. Blaney seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

PUBLIC DEFENDER 01.84
Additional Appropriation
$14,000 to 1110 Salaries

Mr. Burge, Okay, Public Defender.

Jim Tsoutsouris, Good evening.

Mr. Burge, Good evening. How are you?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Fine, thank you.

Mr. Burge, Good. You have an additional of $14,000 to Salaries, you are requesting.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes. As I understand it, the previous council had approved the number of deputies and the salaries, but there was a snafu, something in regard to the funding. So we’re $14,000 short, and if we didn’t do anything, sometime in December we won’t have the money. I don’t know how that happened. But I was advised by the staff that I should make a request for the $14,000 just to, which you already approved as far as salaries.

Mr. Whitten, Is that true? Did we? Do you know?

Mrs. Vuko, I didn’t hear a word he said. I’m sorry.

Mr. Burge, I’m sorry. Could you repeat it so she could…

Mrs. Vuko, Jim, can you talk into the microphone?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes. Unfortunately, Sheila was my guidance. We didn’t appropriate the monies to conform to the number of deputies that were approved. As Sheila said before she went on maternity leave, you have to submit the additional appropriation request, which I have done. So it will conform with the number of deputies, and the salaries, that have already been approved by the council. So that’s why the $14,000.

Mr. Carmichael, Mr. President, Vice President, it’s true. I think, you know, we were reviewing each department at this point from a financial standpoint, and I think this is one department we should also review. I’d be happy to look into it, and see what the situation is with all these part-time deputy defenders, insurance policies, and so forth that we have, all the expenditures that we have with the public defenders. I know we have to have public defenders, but I think we ought to review it at this point, and come back with a recommendation.

Mr. Carmichael moved to deny the request for additional appropriations submitted by Public Defender 01.84.

Mr. Steele, And, Bill, I would agree with what you had to say too, because Mr. Tsoutsouris has a half-million dollar budget. I think he has places in here he can get that money. For instance, I think in the Training & Education, Jim, you have $15,000 there alone, which would cover this. So I agree with Bill. This is so nebulous that I would second that motion.

Mr. Steele seconded.

Mr. Burge, We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the motion to deny the request?

Mrs. Blaney, I have a question for Bill. You’re going to look into the fact that, I mean if we appropriated people to him, and then we don’t give him the money for it, that doesn’t make sense to me.

Mr. Carmichael, This is Salaries spread between the budgeted employees.

Mrs. Blaney, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, If you look at the submission. Is there six employees that will receive a portion of this?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, This is salaries. What happened, something happened with regard to the transfer of funds. You did approve the number of employees that I have here. You approved the salaries of each of the employees. I came to you specifically. What happened was, there was a $12,000, I guess an error someplace, and it was brought to my attention by Sheila--who is now gone--and she said, you can come in next year and we’ll make up the difference.
I’m not asking for more money than I asked for last year. If you want to refute it that’s fine. If you want to review it with me, you may come up with more money. Training & Education, I need that to stay qualified. The Supreme Court says you have to have so many hours, so that’s not a budget I can play with. The only other thing that I have is our insurance, malpractice insurance. That’s a given. There’s no fat in my budget.
And here’s the irony of it, in the meantime, the judges are ordering people who are not totally indigent to pay into a public defender fund. This is about $20,000 or $30,000 sitting in your budget that I can’t touch. It’s a separate, and it doesn’t go into the general budget at the end of the year. It’s a separate, which the courts can dip into for support, if they need psychiatrists, if they need depositions. I can’t touch it for salaries. And the last I looked, there was about $30,000 sitting in there, so we’re not costing you any money.

Mr. Carmichael, Sandy has a comment.

Mrs. Vuko, Becky went to go get his budget. There may have been an additional error or something in your budget that Sheila found.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes.

Mrs. Vuko, And I think that’s what the discrepancy is on this.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, I was counting on Sheila; then she went and had a baby on us.

Mr. Carmichael, No, I think, Jim, the issue also that you mentioned there might be with the courts in assigning all these people to public defenders. I think that needs to be reviewed, and that of course has to be reviewed with the judges.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, I wish you would. I have no authority over that.

Mr. Carmichael, It’s the same thing with the probation department.

Mrs. Stevenson, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, I think so many people are getting assigned to probation. I have recently heard of a few cases, whereby it shouldn’t have even gone through the court system.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, I agree wholeheartedly, and I’ve been after the judges as diplomatically as I can to…

Mr. Carmichael, Well you’re in an unusual position, but we’re in a different position.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Our job is to look at the finances of this county government.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Absolutely, absolutely. But what I am asking for here is nothing more than what you’ve already authorized. It’s nothing new.

Mr. Whitten, I’m not, I guess I’m with you, Bill. I have questions, and I think this is one of the budgets that we really need to take a look at. I’m with you on this one.

Mr. Burge, So in lieu of that, and they are still researching…

Mrs. Blaney, I’m waiting to see what Sandy has to say.

Mr. Burge, Maybe the next…

Mr. Carmichael, Next meeting.

Mr. Burge, Next meeting come back with a recommendation based on your working together here.

Mr. Carmichael, We can do it by that time.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Certainly, I’ll be more than happy to discuss it with anybody.

Mr. Carmichael, Then if it our error or whatever, then we should correct it.

Mrs. Blaney, So by denying it today, can we still revisit this next month?

Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Mr. Burge, Yes. Okay, so I’ll call for the question. We have a motion and a second.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, May I ask. Do we have a, is that…

Mrs. Vuko, No, I can’t see any difference here on the 144, so.

Mr. Hollenbeck, This is a request for an additional appropriation, which means it has to be legally advertised. If you deny it, then we are going to have to advertise it again for you next meeting. If you table it, then I do not believe you have to advertise it again, and you can bring it off the table at the next meeting.

Mr. Carmichael moved to withdraw his motion to deny the request submitted by Public Defender 01.84, and table it to the May 24, 2005 meeting. Mr. Whitten seconded.

Mrs. Vuko, Yes, because we are going to have to go through with this with Jim, and check this.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Oh, that’s fine.

Mr. Burge, The motion is to table it; it’s been seconded. We need a voice vote or a…

Mr. Carmichael, Voice vote.

Mr. Burge, All in favor of tabling this until the next meeting, say aye.

Motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Thank you.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Sandy, it can appear on the next meeting’s agenda with no need for advertisement.

Mrs. Vuko, Okay.

CLERK PERPETUATION 199.01
Transfer
$572.50 from 2110 Office Supplies to 4410 Office Equipment over $100

Mr. Burge, Okay, next item on the agenda, Clerk’s office. Good evening.

Dale Brewer, Good evening. I’m asking for a transfer within my perpetuation fund, which again, is not tax money, and it’s to buy a new date stamp machine.

Mr. Burge, Okay, that’s the $572.50.

Ms. Brewer, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Clerk Perpetuation 199.01, $572.50 from 2110 Office Supplies to 4410 Office Equipment over $100. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Ms. Brewer, Thank you.

COMMISSIONERS 01.30
Transfer
$175 from 2110 Office Supplies to 2410 Medical & Dental

Mr. Burge, Okay, this brings us up to the Inter-fund Borrowing Discussion for the Office of Family Children.

Mr. Whitten, What happened to the commissioners?

Mrs. Blaney, The commissioners.

Mr. Carmichael, The commissioners first.

Mr. Burge, Oh, I’m sorry, I did not see it. My apologies, commissioners. Good evening.

Com. Bob Harper, We have a request for a transfer into Medical & Dental for testing, some medical testing that takes place at the juvenile center.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Commissioners 01.30, $175 from 2110 Office Supplies to 2410 Medical & Dental. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, Thank you, motion approved.

CEDIT PLAN DISCUSSION

Mr. Carmichael, Bob, while you’re here.

Com. Harper, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, I have another thing to say tonight. I believe it was in December; we passed the CEDIT plan as you submitted it.

Com. Harper, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, What was there, six projects?

Com. Harper, I don’t have it in front of me.

Mr. Carmichael, I think that’s what it was, somewhere in that vicinity. Now we have new council members on the board here. We have, one, two, three new council members, and I think they should be given the opportunity to review that.

Mr. Carmichael moved that all CEDIT plans come back to the County Council for review prior to the expenditure of the funds. Mrs. Stevenson seconded.

Mr. Burge, There is a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Mr. Whitten, I guess my question is, why is this coming up at the last minute? Is there some issue that we need to look at? Is there something that’s…

Mr. Carmichael, Well I think we need to do a thorough review, you know, we’ve got to start it for all departments of county government.

Mr. Whitten, I would agree with that.

Mr. Carmichael, We’ve got some issues that are up in the air at this point. And I think this is a good opportunity for the new county council members to review it, and to know exactly the genesis of this particular document. I don’t have the document in front of me. But I have the…

Com. Harper, Let me respond to that, Mr. Carmichael.

Mr. Carmichael, I don’t have anything, Bob. There is nothing I’m against.

Com. Harper, Well you made a motion. Correct? Can I respond to it? Is that, can I respond?

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Do we have a second?

Mr. Burge, Yes, there is a second.

Mr. Carmichael, Oh.

Com. Harper, Mr. Carmichael, I didn’t vote for the CEDIT tax, and in fact, I opposed putting an income tax on the people of Porter County, and I was very vocal about that. And further, I am vocal about putting any further income taxes on the people of Porter County. The commissioners were presented--under that tax that was passed--with the burden or the duty of coming up with a plan and presenting it to the Council.
I would say this, that my working in that plan, I was not especially pleased about that, because I wasn’t especially pleased about having the wager in Porter County pay a tax. Not a penny of it went for property tax relief, which we all know it did not. I still am amazed it was passed, when everyone knew not a penny would go for property tax relief, and people are still saying that there was some property tax relief, and not a penny of it did go for property tax relief.
So because of that, we came up a budget, and we used some for roads, and some for parks; trying to stay within the spirit of the tax that you passed. We have gone to people now for this year, and said, here, by the way, there is some unappropriated money still in there, which you know, which I’m sure you know, and we based it on the Council passing that budget, we went to people and said, here’s the plan for this year, you can fix so many roads; the Park, you can buy some land.
Now I feel this is all about something else, that this just didn’t come up. But maybe I’m wrong, and maybe we are going to get into a discussion of how much money we’re going to give to Lake County for the airport on a board that they control. You know, maybe that’s what this is all about. But I think to bring this up at this late point in a meeting, and not have a chance for all of the commissioners to be here, and for us to have a thorough discussion on, is not fair knowledge to us, but to every department head, and person that we’ve gone to and said, based on what you did last year, to start making a plan.
I wish you hadn’t voted for the tax. I think it’s unfair, but you did. We passed a plan. We went to the Parks, and we said we were going to give them more people, and more land, and you can start making plans. I think it’s sort of late in the game to be backing up.

Mr. Carmichael, Well…

Com. Harper, Okay, so I just wanted to…

Mr. Carmichael, It’s never too late to review the finances of county government.

Com. Harper, Right, and you’re right, we need to review it, and that’s why…

Mr. Carmichael, This is an opportunity to do that.

Com. Harper, And by the way, Mr. Carmichael, I’ve been calling for that, and I hope that on Tuesday, Monday night, when we have the meeting--this meeting--that we finally sit down and say, we’re going to have a plan, we’re going to make a plan. Because it’s really up to the council, although, some people have criticized me for calling for that.
We’re going to sit down and make up a plan, and we’re going to decide how much we have to spend this year, and we’re going to make sure that we take care of our employees before we spend it all. I hope we really do something Monday night, and really start facing these things so we don’t do this last-minute stuff, like we’re doing right now, which gets us in all the trouble it gets us in over the long haul. So I agree with you, and I hope we do it.

Mr. Carmichael, Well, Bob, I think all input is valid regardless of where it comes from.

Com. Harper, Alright. I do too.

Mr. Carmichael, People have different ideas.

Com. Harper, I do too. In fact…

Mr. Carmichael, In line with this particular motion, I don’t have any particular project that I am questioning or anything of that nature. I just want the new county council members to have an opportunity to vote on each issue that comes up. They’re probably all valid.

Com. Harper, So what are you suggesting we do with the Parks Department, and these people in the Highway Department that have made their plans based on this already being approved? Are we to tell them now, I mean, I assume you’re going to tell them.

Mr. Carmichael, Bring it, yes, we’ll tell them. Bring it back to us next month, and we’ll vote on it.

Com. Harper, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, But I’m sure there isn’t anybody here that’s…

Com. Harper, This, you know, I just hope everybody realizes this…

Mr. Carmichael, Against the parks or against roads.

Com. Harper, Isn’t about the…

Mr. Carmichael, That’s one of our primary objectives.

Com. Harper, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, But I think we have to have an opportunity to review it, and stand on the record as to whether we approve it or disapprove it.

Com. Harper, And I hope you come Monday night, Mr. Carmichael, and say, we are not making another move until we have a complete plan for this county, and know who’s asking for extra employees. And set money aside next year to give our employees, to take care of our employees that we have, and to give medical insurance for our employees, and we’re not going to be pulling this last minute stuff just like you’re pulling tonight. Just like you pulled with the sheriff’s raises of 400-some thousand bucks…

Mr. Burge, Okay, let’s…

Com. Harper, When the budget wasn’t even in.

Mr. Burge, Are there any other members that would have any comment or discussion?

Mr. Whitten, Yes, I guess I do have a comment here. I mean when I took office, and came here, I said the one thing that I’m particularly bothered by or the one thing that I’m particularly alarmed by is when we are sort of blindsided at the last minute with stuff.
Now we have three commissioners whose offices are right here, and if there’s a particular problem, why haven’t we addressed it with the commissioners? If we have a concern, why haven’t we addressed it with the commissioners? We’ve had joint meetings with the commissioners; we’re talking about overall planning; we’re talking about looking at all the budgets; we’re talking about looking at getting input from all the department heads or the elected officials in this county.
Now I come to a meeting, and wham, at the last minute we’re going to hamstring the commissioners on some expenditures that apparently have been planned for. Come on, guys, when are we going to start planning for the future, and quit doing things sort of on a shoot-from-the- hip kind of thing? We only had so much money in the till, and I think Com. Harper has hit it on the head. There’s only so much money, and if we really want to give employees raises; if we really want to be able to deal with the rising cost of insurance; if we really want to deal with the short-staffed elected officials in this county, we’ve got to plan for it. I’m not so sure it’s hamstringing the commissioners on money that has been planned for expenditures for this year at the last minute. I mean we have a meeting with them Monday, why don’t we deal with this Monday? Why don’t we deal with this as a responsible government body with the commissioners? We have a unique opportunity here because we are coming together to plan.
I don’t know, Bill, I want to believe that you don’t have any other thing going on here, and I do believe that. So then there’s no need to do it right now. Let’s talk to the commissioners on Monday. Let’s see what’s going on in this county. Let’s start planning for the future. Let’s quit spending money like drunken sailors. There’s only so much there, and every conversation gets back to the income tax. Every conversation gets back to increasing taxes.
You know what? I represent the working people in this county too, and it’s time we start planning for their future. It’s time we started bringing the message to voters of this county, and the workers of this county, and quit doing this back to the last minute. There is no way I’m going vote for a motion like this at the last minute, Bill.

Mr. Carmichael, Well, Dan, you have three new county councilman, and you have one new county commissioner who has never voted on this.

Com. Harper, We’re working under a whole budget that they’ve never voted on. We voted on the budget last year. That’s the way government works.

Mr. Carmichael, That’s why we should review each one.

Com. Harper, Yeah.

Mr. Carmichael, That’s what we’re here for.

Com. Harper, Yes, but you’re not making a motion tonight to vacate every budget.

Mrs. Stevenson, Last year when there was a vote for CEDIT tax, well, two years ago. I passed it; but what I did last year was, I didn’t approve it. I was the only one. If you go back through all the minutes in the budget, I didn’t approve it, for the simple reason, I wanted it to come before us at that time, then we would say yes or no.

Com. Harper, Rita, it was before you. It was brought before you for a vote.

Mrs. Stevenson, I’m saying all of them at one time. I’m saying as you are ready to spend, then come before us, and then we would approve it. We’re not saying we won’t approve these things.

Com. Harper, I’m just telling you how it was done last year, and the plans were made. Now, you know, it’s not my money, its the taxpayers’ money.

Mrs. Stevenson, Exactly.

Com. Harper, And I don’t even feel good about spending it, because I don’t think it should be coming from an income tax without property tax relief. So, you know, whatever you want to do, all I’m telling you, it’s tough enough to get things done in county government. Okay? Things move slowly.
We gave the Parks, the Parks has been operating, I mean they haven’t told me their strategy, but we gave them money that they could buy some land. We gave the Highway Department extra money to fix highways. Okay? They’ve been planning, and strategizing on this money. We’ve talked about vehicles and so forth. Okay? So, you know, I think it’s going to create a little bit of a crisis, and that’s fine, because you know, I’ve got to be here crisis or not, one way or the other. But it’s a last minute, back-door deal, to put pressure on over this RDA bill. It’s no longer an RTA bill, and that’s what it is.

Mrs. Stevenson, You know…

Com. Harper, That’s what it is.

Mrs. Stevenson, You’re saying that, and that isn’t correct.

Com. Harper, Well.

Mrs. Stevenson, I seconded this, and I’m not, because I’m not saying it because of that.

Com. Harper, Fine.

Mrs. Stevenson, I have nothing…

Com. Harper, That’s what it is.

Mrs. Stevenson, I have no ulterior motive.

Mr. Whitten, Then why aren’t we waiting until after we meet with the commissioners on Monday.

Mrs. Blaney, Why don’t we wait until Monday?

Mr. Whitten, Why are we doing it now? Why aren’t we waiting until we meet with the commissioners on Monday? We’ve got all kinds of planning that we are supposed to be doing, and I’ve got to tell you, we’ve got a lot of hard planning that we’ve got to do. Because we are spending, we’ve already spent on the Family Youth Services Bureau, which I voted for and I endorsed, I believe it was a good expenditure, we need that, but that depletes the amount of money that we have.

Mrs. Blaney, Right.

Mr. Whitten, And the insurance is going to go up, just on it’s own. We’re going to have probably a 10% increase on that. That depletes the amount of money that we have. We can only raise the budget so much every year based on this cost of living index, that is somewhere around 4 or 5% in this county. There’s only so much money there before we start looking to increasing income taxes, and creating new income taxes. Let’s quit doing things at the last minute. That’s why we are having the planning meetings, because we’re not waiting until the last minute on stuff.

Mr. Burge, The discussion is, or the motion is, as I understand it from Bill, is to, the purpose of the council is to oversee the funds of the county.

Mr. Carmichael, Just bring them back and review them.

Mr. Burge, So you’d be bringing it back.

Mr. Carmichael, When you’re ready to expend it, whether it would be…

Mr. Burge, Just for checks and balances.

Mr. Carmichael, You can bring all four of them back next week or next month. Or if you want to call a special meeting for that purpose, I’m agreeable to that. That’s not a problem.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, But let’s just review it. Let’s look at it, and expend it with a further vote, including all seven members of this body if Bob is back by then.

Mr. Whitten, I’m all for oversight, Bill, I really am. But now you made a motion to repeal basically a resolution I haven’t seen, quite frankly. I would have seen it had somebody told me this was coming up. I don’t understand why it’s the last minute. I don’t understand why we can’t wait for our planning meetings. We are talking about having sort of a combined effort with the commissioners to plan for this county in the future. I don’t understand why this motion has been made at the last minute without some sort of advanced notice that we could have looked into it. That’s all I have to say.

Mr. Burge, Okay, any other thoughts? Bill, do you want to restate your motion, just so everybody is clear on it.

Mr. Carmichael, That each one of these CEDIT projects come back for review before this county council prior to the expenditure of funds.

Mr. Burge, Okay, very good. Any other discussion? We need a roll call vote, yes? Call the vote.

Mrs. Vuko, You want a roll call?

Mr. Burge, Yes.

Motion failed on the following roll call vote:

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

Mrs. Vuko, You have a tie vote.

Mr. Burge, It’s 3 to 3.

Mr. Whitten, Motion dies.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Motion dies.

Mr. Burge, Motion fails.

Mr. Hollenbeck, You need four affirmative votes.

Mr. Burge, Very good.

Mr. Whitten, I’d like to say, I’m willing to revisit this discussion, Bill, but I want some advanced notice.

Com. Harper, Thank you.

Mr. Burge, Thank you, Commissioner.

INTER-FUND BORROWING DISCUSSION
Office of Family & Children

Mr. Burge, Okay, next item, Inter-fund Borrowing Discussion, the Office of Family & Children. Good evening.

Jon Rutkowski, Good evening. I’m on the agenda tonight making a request of the Council to borrow $600,000 from the bridge fund.

Mr. Burge, Mr. Hollenbeck, you mentioned earlier…

Mr. Hollenbeck, Mr. Chairman, if I could give some historical perspective.

Mr. Burge, Please, do so.

Mr. Hollenbeck, In Bob Poparad’s absence, he asked that I talk to Jon, and get this matter before you. Jon has a fund that is funded through property taxes. He has other sources of funding but he has a fund that is funded through property taxes that experiences the same ebb-and-flow in cash that the general fund, and the health, and the other funds do. In the past couple of years that going up and down has been made worse as the other funds have seen worse with the delay in the property taxes and the reassessment process. Past councils have responded to Jon’s request that we do for his fund, and help me, the name of the fund, Jon?

Mr. Rutkowski, It’s the Family & Children fund.

Mr. Hollenbeck, And what is that money used for?

Mr. Rutkowski, It’s used exclusively for child welfare services.

Mr. Hollenbeck, He basically runs out of money about this time of year on a cash flow basis. You are scheduled to raise about $2,000,000 in the fund from the taxes?

Mr. Rutkowski, Our tax draws of Payment A and B this year, they should total a little less than 2.8 million.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, 2.8. So it is a cash flow situation. We did the same thing earlier this year with the general fund, and the health fund. We have traditionally done this from the bridge fund. And we have traditionally, and I think it’s appropriate in this case too, sought the acquiescence of the Board of the County Commissioners in hopes that this won’t have a devastating impact on their scheduling of projects.
In talking to Jon, I think he felt that $300,000 or half of this, he could pay back out of his A-statement settlement, which will be on or about, we hope, June 30th. The second half of the $300,000, he would need to pay off out of the December draw that he gets. Again, we’ve done this in past years, very similar to what we’ve already done with the general fund, and the health fund.

Mr. Burge, The current balance of that bridge fund?

Mr. Hollenbeck, It’s about 1.7 million dollars.

Ms. Phillips, What fund is it?

Mr. Hollenbeck, For the bridge fund. You told me that when I asked you the other day. Again, if you acquiesce in this, this evening, it’s my recommendation that your approval be conditioned on Jon appearing before the Board of County Commissioners to get their approval as well.

Mr. Burge, Okay. So that will leave us with a balance of 1.1 million.

Mr. Hollenbeck, For 60 days, then it will be back up to 1.4 million, then 1.7. And the bridge fund, of course, gets money on June 30th and December 30th as well.

Mr. Burge, Okay. In the absence of Mr. Hoagland, who I believe has already left, Com. Harper, any other thoughts on the impact of the bridge fund, if that would be…

Com. Harper, No, I have the same thoughts as everybody, the money is there.

Mr. Burge, Okay, very good. Is there any discussion? Is there a motion? Any other thoughts?

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the request by the Office of Family & Children to allow the temporary borrowing of $600,000 from the Highway Cum-Bridge 25 Fund, with Mr. Rutkowski to appear before the Board of Commissioners. Mr. Whitten seconded.

Mr. Rutkowski, I mean I guess I could clarify by saying that none of the monies from this fund--from the Family & Children fund--go for any type of administrative expense. None of it goes towards salaries, insurance, rent, anything of that nature. All of the funds are used for child welfare services.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Which, Jon, means paying foster parents?

Mr. Rutkowski, It, part of this money would be, I guess, a hedge until we receive our tax draw in June or July, however it works out. The bulk of the money I’m going to use to address--our terminology--unliquidated obligations. We’ve been carrying unliquidated obligations for close to two years. I have a lot of contacts with our creditors--with our vendors--and in order for them to continue to provide services to us, and for them to address their cash flow needs, that’s why I’m looking to borrow. There are a couple of them in particular that I would like to make large payments to. It would go a long way towards insuring that they can continue to provide the services we need.

Mr. Burge, Okay, very good. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Mr. Carmichael, I made the motion, I don’t…

Mr. Whitten, I seconded it.

Mr. Carmichael, Dan seconded it?

Mr. Burge, Yes. Okay, so the motion is to approve the $600,000 from the bridge fund as a temporary loan.

Mr. Hollenbeck, And I would also ask, since I don’t have a resolution prepared, because I wasn’t sure the direction you were going to go that the motion also include--if it’s okay--authorizing your chairperson to execute the necessary document to accomplish this, which would be a resolution that I would prepare very similar to the one that you approved the last time...

Mr. Carmichael moved amend his motion, and include the authorization and execution of a resolution allowing the temporary borrowing. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, Very good. The motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? If none, will a voice vote be sufficient or do we have to have a roll call?

Mr. Carmichael, Why don’t you do a roll call?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Why don’t you do a roll call?

Mr. Burge, Roll call vote, please.

Mrs. Vuko, You want a roll call?

Mr. Burge, Yes, please.

Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Burge, The motion is approved. Thank you.

Mr. Rutkowski, Thank you very much.

Mr. Hollenbeck, And I will work with Jon to implement the intent of your resolution. I’ll be in touch.

Mr. Rutkowski, Okay, thank you.

JACK JENT - PORTAGE TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE

Mr. Burge, Portage Township Trustee.

Jack Jent, Good evening.

Mr. Burge, Good evening.

Mr. Carmichael, Hi, Jack.

Mr. Jent, I appreciate you allowing me to come tonight.

Mr. Whitten, It’s good to have you, Jack.

Mr. Jent, Portage Township is having some financial problems. We’re going to need about $200,000. Right now, and direct relate, from shelter, we’re about 10% over our budget right now. In utilities, we’re about 16% over. With a total combination of about 11.5 over. At this time, I’d like to ask you for a 100, or a $200,000 loan. And I’m going to be real honest with you, if you give me the loan, I will not be able to repay you.

Mr. Whitten, It doesn’t sound like much money.

Mr. Jent, If you do turn me down, this gives me the opportunity to go to my board for a bonding issue, so.

Mrs. Blaney moved to deny the Portage Township Trustee’s request to borrow $200,000. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Burge, Motion denied.

Mr. Jent, Thank you very much.

Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s the best denial.

Mr. Jent, It’s just a shame that we have to go through this procedure to get what we want, but this is the procedure the state calls for.

Mr. Burge, Very good, thank you.

Mr. Carmichael, Thanks, Jack.

AUDITOR’S REPORT

Mrs. Vuko, I really don’t have too much this evening. We’re doing pretty good in the county general fund until the taxes get out, and we get some money. But other than that, there’s nothing else.

Mr. Burge, Very good. Any questions of the Auditor from any of the Board?

ATTORNEY’S REPORT

Mr. Burge, Attorney’s Report.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Just one matter, very quickly. We have received a request from the sheriff’s merit board. Those of you who have been around a while are aware of the fact, the sheriff, the merit officers have their own pension plan separate from the state or the county pension plan. We oversee that plan in conjunction with the merit board, in the sense that any amendments to that plan must come to us for approval.
I have received a letter from the sheriff’s merit board indicating that they are going to propose such an amendment. I won’t bore you with the details. It’s a complicated amendment. I need to get with them so that I understand it as well, and I suspect then that they will be back here at your next meeting. I will get you the information ahead of time, so you can see what they are proposing. Once they pass it, then it has to come to you.
Obviously, your biggest concern is what financial impact the amendment may have, and I will get that from McCready & Keene, who are the actuaries who work for the merit pension program. I will get you that financial impact before the next meeting, as well. But that’s something that is coming down the pipe that I wanted you to be aware of.

Mr. Steele, And David, I’d like to add to this, since Poparad and I have worked with the sheriff for two years to get this done, this is very, very complicated.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Right.

Mr. Steele, And I would suggest that you get this to us as soon as possible, because if it is one of these last-minute things--which so often happens--no one is going to understand it, and it’s going to be continued again. I would ask you too, of course you always ask people to ask their questions, but anything you can explain in that document will help the new members, because it is very, very complicated.

Mr. Hollenbeck, If there’s anything I’ve learned from Councilperson Whitten is that you need get this information out ahead of time, and I will do that.

Mr. Burge, That would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

SECOND READING

Mr. Carmichael moved to approve second reading. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Burge, Is there any other matter that needs to come before the Council at this time?
Mr. Whitten, I just have one thing, Mr. Chairman, if I may.

Mr. Burge, Go ahead.

Mr. Whitten, As it has been indicated prior in this meeting, we have a meeting with the commissioners on Monday. We’ve been doing a lot of talking about planning. We’ve been doing a lot of talking about meeting with some department heads, and I think that some of us have taken some initiative, Al Steele, I know has, for the one committee that I’m on with Al, to try to gather up information, to try to do a really thorough before-hand analysis of our planning, and how much money is available.
I would encourage and ask the council to take the opportunity between now and Monday-- and particularly on Monday--to really start looking where we are going to come up with the money, because I’ve kept kind of chart of how much money I think we are going to have, and how much money we are spending as we go. I don’t want us to get, from my opinion, you guys can have your own, I don’t want to get to budget time, and say, we simply don’t have the money to give raises; we simply don’t have the money to get us back to proper staffing, because we have all these other things that, you know, we spent money on.
I certainly don’t want to be talking in terms of additional taxes, because we haven’t planned. I know all of you share my views on this, because we’ve talked about that in some of these joint meetings. So I know that you are with me on this. If we can get together, and we have our differences of opinions on taxes, and we have our differences of opinions on the RDA or RTA or whatever they are calling it this week. I know that we have philosophical differences, but I know that we are all together in the planning issue.
I don’t know how it’s been done here, budget sessions before, but I’ve been on city councils, and it seems like it’s always waiting to the last minute. We had three or four budget meetings, and we all tried to figure out where the money is going to come from, and there’s all sorts of cuts that go on, and I think that at least we’re all unified on that. I ask the Council to think in terms of the fact that there’s only so much money to deal with. I’d like your input and thoughts when you get there Monday--at least from my perspective--how we are going to spend that money.

Mr. Burge, Okay, anyone else? If not, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

There being no further business, meeting adjourned at 7:25 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