PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
Reorganization Meeting
January 3, 2007

The Porter County Council met to reorganize, on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. in the County Administration Center, 155 Indiana-Suite 205, Valparaiso, Indiana.

Members present were Jim Burge, Michael Bucko, William Carmichael, Matthew Murphy, Robert Poparad, Rita Stevenson, and President Dan Whitten. Also present was Attorney David Hollenbeck, Auditor James Kopp, Lindy Wilson, and Jan Noll.

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

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Mr. Whitten, The next thing on the agenda is the Election of Officers. I believe at this time, Dave, I’ll be handing you the gavel to find ourselves a chairman.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Geez, usually it’s a ceremonial gavel; now this year it’s a real gavel.

Mr. Poparad, You only get one knock with the gavel; you’re only going to have about a minute here, so.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, it’s the time of year when the Porter County Council organizes itself, and picks from amongst its members a president and a vice president. To that end, I’ve been handed the gavel to conduct the election for the position of president. So I will open the floor for nominations for the position of President of the Porter County Council for 2007. Are there any nominations?

Mrs. Stevenson moved to nominate Dan Whitten as President. Mr. Poparad seconded.

Mr. Hollenbeck, We have a motion and a second for Mr. Whitten to be our president. Are there any other nominations to be made? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion that the nominations be closed with the understanding that in so doing we have but one candidate, and that motion upon passage will effectively elect Mr. Whitten as our president. Is there a motion to close the nominations?

Mr. Bucko moved to close nominations and elect Dan Whitten as President of the Porter County Council for 2007. Mr. Burge seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Congratulations, Mr. Whitten, you are our president, and I will hand the gavel back, and you can get yourself a vice president.

Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much, Mr. Hollenbeck. Thank you very much, members. It’s my privilege and pleasure to be your president for another year. I look forward to this year with our new members, I’m sure it’s going to be a great time. At this time, I’d like to open the floor for nominations for Vice President.

Mr. Poparad moved to nominate William Carmichael as Vice President. Mrs. Stevenson seconded.

Mr. Whitten, Do we have any other nominations? Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion to close the nominations for vice president.

Mr. Bucko moved to close nominations and elect William Carmichael as Vice President of the Porter County Council for 2007. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Whitten, Congratulations, Bill.

Mr. Carmichael, Thank you.

ATTORNEY CONTRACT

Mr. Whitten, Attorney Contract. You’ve all been given a copy of our attorney contract, of course, from our current attorney, Mr. Hollenbeck. Have you had an opportunity to review this? Any questions? Concerns? Discussion?

Mr. Carmichael moved to accept the 2007 Legal Services Agreement for Attorney David Hollenbeck, as submitted. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Just very briefly, I would echo what your president indicated. These are exciting times in county government, and I look forward to the opportunity of working with each of you in 2007. With that having been said, I’ll hand down the contracts for signature.

Mr. Whitten, Congratulations, Dave. Welcome aboard.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Thank you.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Whitten, What is your pleasure with the minutes of December 4, 2006 and December 16, 2006?

Mr. Poparad moved to approve the minutes of December 4, 2005 and December 16, 2006 as received. Mr. Burge seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

FIRST READING

At the time, Mr. Kopp read the Notice to Taxpayers.

PUBLIC DEFENDER 01.84
144 Form - Request denied
Deputy Public Defender from $0 to $25,000
Additional Appropriation - Request denied
$25,000 to 1110 Salaries

Mr. Whitten, The next thing on our agenda is Public Defender 01.84. We have a 144, and an additional. Deputy Public Defender from 0 to 25,000, and 25,000 to Salaries. Mr. Tsoutsouris, how are you this evening?

Jim Tsoutsouris, Just fine.

Mr. Whitten, I assume you’re asking for another public defender. We’ve spoke recently about this, Jim.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, I think in my mind, and in the minds of some of the members that I spoke to about this, the question was surrounding the caseload per public defender, things of that nature, to see if the urgency has arisen to increase at this time. I think there was some concern about adding an additional person not during budget time. This is something we typically like to do during budget time.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes, yes, I understand.

Mr. Whitten, I’ll open the floor to questions or…

Mr. Tsoutsouris, If I may address that. I know most of you. I’ve been the chief since July of 1970. I’ve been here quite a long time. I have nothing personal to gain by asking for a deputy. This deputy here I have been asking for, for a couple of years. I was going to bring you a bunch of figures and data, and I didn’t want to burden you with that. The fact of the matter is, we’re overburdened.
The CHINS courts, the Class-D courts, they’re black holes, they’re eating us alive. The American Bar Association--and I shared this with President Whitten--has now got involved to have their standards, for example, for a year, we should have 150 cases. Delores has 300. I can on and on and on. The CHINS courts, they eat us alive. It’s a black hole, and I can’t, we work part-time. We try to maintain a practice.
I’m asking for $25,000 for a year for a person who has a doctorate degree, and they’re going to be involved at least 30 hours a week, minimum, in this job. They have their own insurance. Again, I don’t want to expose the County to a, because one of these, the ABA is closing in on us, the State Bar Association, the Indiana Supreme Court is setting standards. You can handle so many cases, and if you don’t, we’re going to sanction you, because you can only handle so many cases and do a credible job. And that’s the problem that I’m facing.
It’s like, you know, when I was a kid, today we have pitch-counts, for those who are baseball fans. When I was a kid growing up, Ewell Blackwell pitched 18 innings. Those days are gone. We have, we have standards. I have to follow them. The County will be liable if we end up getting sued because we’re exceeding the limits. Not only exceeding them, but we’re just, we’re making a mockery of it.
So, and again, I’ve been here since July of 1970. I’ve been coming before this council for all these years. I appreciate all that you’ve done all these years. You’re really, I’ve been very grateful to you, and you’ve been a great help to me, and I appreciate that. I’m a taxpayer. I live here. My kids were raised here. I’m mindful of budgets. I’m mindful that we’re not here to spend money needlessly. I need this deputy, badly. I needed this deputy two years ago, and I’ve been asking for it, and I’m mindful, again, of the budgetary constraints that you have. I’m open to any questions that you have. I think this is a very honest appeal that I have to you that I simply need another body.

Mr. Whitten, We just added a public defender at budget time. Is that correct? We just added one?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, That was a year ago.

Mr. Whitten, Was it a year ago?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, I asked for two, two years ago, and I received one, and I’ve patched it for a year, but I’m back with that same deputy. So it’s been two years.

Mrs. Stevenson, But, Jim, once again, it’s not that we don’t want to. It’s that we have to be a stickler across the board. If we open it for you, then we’re going to have to not let it wait for budget hearings, and then we’re going to have to just open the door, and everybody else is going to need new people. And I’m not, I know you need it.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, I understand. The problem I have is with the timing, because that’s what happened last year. By the time we get to budgets, it’s September, October, November, so it’s another year. And this has been two years that I’ve been asking for this. Again, there’s no personal gain.

Mrs. Stevenson, We know that.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, It’s something that I need to have. I really need it, so the system can function the way it’s supposed to function, constitutionally and legally.

Mr. Whitten, See, I thought we just, I thought we just expanded last year an additional public defender for juvenile. I think you engaged services of Harold Harper.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes, that was, that was…

Mr. Whitten, That was last year.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Last year.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, so. I understand the constraints, and I understand the burden on the public defenders, I understand that. However, from my perspective, and I’m not speaking for the body here, I’m speaking for myself, I have been pretty mindful of the notion of planning. We have a lot of budgetary priorities. We did a wonderful job this last budget time, planning, prioritizing, getting things done, compromising, and that is appropriate for budget time.
I think we get ourselves into trouble when we start adding personnel or adding a lot of unanticipated expenses outside the budget, after we’ve gone so painfully through the process in anticipation of this year. And I don’t think you do have to wait a year at budget time. I think if you come to us at budget time, for the next year, and we look at our expenses, and what we have to work with, I think that we can get it done in relatively short-order, if that happens to be a priority. So I understand what you are saying.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, It’s your call, I understand that.

Mr. Whitten, You know, but I for one would like to, and I’m not even disputing the fact that you need another public defender, Jim. Quite frankly, I’m just, for my own sake, I like to wait until budget time to do these things. I think it fits in nicely with what we do at budget time and planning. But I’m open to suggestions and thoughts from the body.

Mr. Bucko, Just for an fyi from me, back up to, I think that was the way it was done, I think just before I left, that practice was started. Has that been pretty well maintained, just doing things like that? Can I just ask one question?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Certainly.

Mr. Bucko, And it might be in reference to the qualifications of an individual that wants a public defender. Are there, you know, are there some solid qualifying factors that are adhered to on a regular basis or it’s simply anybody that comes in and wishes to, and claims that they need it, simply may have one?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, As far as needing a public defender?

Mr. Bucko, Yes, or just comes in and wants a public defender.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, That’s up to them, yes, I have no…

Mr. Bucko, It’s up to whom?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Up to the judges…

Mr. Bucko, Alright.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, As to who qualifies to receive a public defender. Does that answer your question?

Mr. Bucko, Yes, who might or might not qualify.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, They come to the court, and they are charged with a crime or whatever it is, and the court will question them under oath as to their assets, do they have any money to hire a lawyer. If they qualify, then my office is appointed, and we have no choice but to take the case.

Mr. Bucko, Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Burge, Jim, I have a question.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Certainly.

Mr. Burge, You had mentioned Delores has what, 300 caseload.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes.

Mr. Burge, What is the average caseload for, for your staff?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, It depends. On the felonies--major felonies--I think the caseload is 75, and they’re usually over 100. In the Class-D, which Delores handles primarily, it’s like 150, and she’s usually 300, 325. The CHINS cases, it’s a never-ending drama. They go on forever. The termination of parental rights, then the appeals, we do everything. It never ends, and it’s gotten so bad that the State now has hired prosecutors, not even in the budget, and they’re in-house now.

Mr. Burge, How does Porter County compare to LaPorte or Lake County, as far as caseload?

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Lake County, see Lake County only has three juvenile courts that deal with the county council, because every other court has their own budget and their own public defenders. It’s about six or seven million dollars total. And of course, caseloads have, you know, and they have the public defender board there, so they have to have caseloads to get paid, and they have to certify those caseloads every month to the commission in Indianapolis. If they’re not within the caseloads, they don’t get paid.
As a consequence, where I get by with x-amount of deputies, I’d have to almost have that again so I could qualify. The public defender board, you get reimbursed a certain percentage, but if we get to that, I will need, the budget will be half again as much as it is right now. And there’s a trickle-down theory as far as getting reimbursed. That’s a whole other theory, but Lake County has it. LaPorte County has a public defender board.

Mr. Carmichael, There isn’t enough money in the state of Indiana, particularly on, for us to join. When I investigated it a while back, it was maybe they would pay it, maybe they wouldn’t.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Exactly. Exactly.

Mr. Carmichael, We couldn’t go on that basis.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, And you’re stuck with it if they don’t pay you.

Mr. Carmichael, That’s right.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, And I understand. It’s a problem, and I realize that it’s not easily solved.

Mr. Bucko, Is that the other method of handling that…

Mr. Carmichael, There’s not enough money to go around.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Yes.

Mr. Bucko, Alright, I was going to ask that question, but I can do that at any other time. I knew that existed.

Mr. Whitten, Any other questions? What’s your pleasure?

Mrs. Stevenson, I’m going to make a motion to deny for this, that reason. Just because it’s not budget time at this time. And it’s not anything to do with you needing the person, we know that. So we’ll take care of it at budget. Or at least we’ll hear it.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Is that a matter of record.

Mrs. Stevenson, We’ll hear it, and we’ll discuss it at that point.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Okay.

Mrs. Stevenson moved to deny the 144 Form and additional appropriation request submitted by Public Defender 01.84. Mr. Poparad seconded.

Mr. Poparad, One thing you touched on, that I’m going to make a brief comment on.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Sure.

Mr. Poparad, If the Supreme Court starts mandating how many people you have to have, tell them to send a big friggin check with it. I’m getting real tired of people saying what we have to do, and nobody pays for it.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Between the Legislature and the Supreme Court, I agree. They always mandate, but nobody gets any money. I hear you. You’re preaching to the choir, I understand.

Mr. Whitten, Any other discussion? Hearing none, let me get a roll call on this motion, please.

Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Tsoutsouris, Thank you. Thanks for your time.

PARKS OPERATING 127
Additional Appropriation
$4,200 to 1121 Interpreter/Educator
$350 to 1210 FICA
$1,000 to 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies
$1,970 to 3340 Advertising
$1,000 to 3950 Contractual Services
$1,970 to 3980 Event Expenses

Mr. Whitten, Parks Operating 127, we’ve got a list of additionals here: 4,200 to Interpreter/Educator; 350 to 1210 FICA; 1,000 to Printing other than Office Supplies; 1,970 to Advertising; 1,000 to Contractual Services; and 1,970 to Event Expenses. Winter classes.

Ed Melendez, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, Is this all tourism money?

Mr. Melendez, This is, for the festival and events, that is tourism money. The other one comes from the Anderson Foundation and the Park Foundation to, for the educators.

Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Parks Operating 127, the amounts of: $4,200 to 1121 Interpreter/Educator, $350 to 1210 FICA, $1,000 to 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies, $1,970 to 3340 Advertising, $1,000 to 3950 Contractual Services and $1,970 to 3980 Event Expenses. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

Mr. Melendez, Thank you.

Mr. Hollenbeck, What Mr. Poparad is raising, we discussed at the end of last year not having the Parks Department come in every time they get a tourism allocation, which Ed, you get it monthly or quarterly?

Mr. Melendez, Monthly.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Monthly. So let me give that some thought, and I’ll, by your next meeting I’ll have a recommendation. Maybe he could come in with a six-month or even a one-year budget that you could approve, so he doesn’t have to come every month to get the approvals. I think that’s…

Mr. Bucko, He knows what the dollar amount normally is? Consistent?

Mr. Hollenbeck, We know exactly what it is, because it’s in the Visitors Commission budget that you approve every year. You approve how much goes to the parks.

Mr. Carmichael, We can pass a budget not to exceed.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Sure.

Mr. Carmichael, It would carry it through to that point.

Mr. Bucko, Exactly.

Mr. Carmichael, They may get a windfall in the meantime, but they wouldn’t be able to spend it.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Then they can always come back on that. That’s a good point. I’ll put something together, and get it to everybody for your next meeting. So, Ed, you don’t have to come in every or you guys don’t have to come in every month.

Mr. Poparad, But you’re more than welcome to come in.

Mr. Whitten, Just to visit.

Mr. Bucko, Just to sit and listen.

Mr. Hollenbeck, And if you do, you’re goofy.

RECORDER PERPETUATION 19.04
Additional Appropriation
$25,388 to 1110 Salaries

Mr. Whitten, Recorder Perpetuation 19, we have an additional of $25,388 to Salaries. The 2007 budget was approved, $25,388 over the advertised amount of $136,230. The 2007 budget was approved at $161,618. What’s your pleasure?

Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Recorder Perpetuation 19.04, the amount of $25,388 to 1110 Salaries. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

ADULT PROBATION USER FEES 48
Additional Appropriation
$10,000 to 4410 Office Equipment over $100

Mr. Whitten, Adult Probation User Fees 48, we have an additional of $10,000 to Office Equipment over $100.

Mr. Poparad, Same thing, wasn’t it.

Mr. Whitten, The advertising deal.

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, We are asking the Council, yes, to reappropriate funds approved during August 21, 2006 budget hearings, and subsequently removed September 18, 2006. Please review attached for clarification. We’ve all got this in front of us. This is an advertising problem. What’s your pleasure?

Mr. Bucko moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Adult Probation User Fees 48, the amount of $10,000 to 4410 Office Equipment over $100. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

JUVENILE PROBATION USER FEES 47
Additional Appropriation
$17,128 to 1120 Hourly
$11,000 to 4410 Office Equipment over $100
$100 to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100
$500 to 4510 Data Processing Equipment

Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Probation User Fees 47, we have four additionals: $17,128 to Hourly; $11,000 to Office Equipment over $100; $100 to Furniture & Fixtures over 100; $500 to Data Processing Equipment. What’s your pleasure?

Mrs. Stevenson moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Juvenile Probation User Fees 47, the amounts of: $17,128 to 1120 Hourly, $11,000 to 4410 Office Equipment over $100, $100 to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100 and $500 to 4510 Data Processing Equipment. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

AUDITOR 01.02
144 Form - Request denied
Part-time Accounts Payable to $16.92 per hour
Part-time Training & Quality Control $15 to $20 per hour - corrected to $12 to $20
Additional Appropriation - Request denied
$5,000 to 1130 Overtime
$27,000 to 1120 Hourly

Mr. Whitten, Auditor 01.02, 144, Part-time Accounts Payable to $16.92 an hour; Part-time Training & Quality Control to $15 to $20 hourly. Additional, 5,000 to Overtime; 27,000 to Hourly. Mr. Kopp.

Mr. Kopp, Yes. The first item, the second item should be 12 to $20 per hour. I don’t know what I’m going to be able to find. I have a girl that’s working full-time that’s going to go part-time, that works on the payable side. She’s currently making $16.92 an hour, full-time, and I’d like to keep her that at part-time. She will work vacation relief, sick days, and she’s going to help in automating the accounts payable side so that we are paying our bills on a weekly basis, and the departments are putting in their requisitions, and we’ll sign the purchase order, and ultimately will automate the County system, and I hope we can do it in six months. That’s why I’m looking for six months in time. We’re also going to do the payroll, and that may take a little longer. But I’m trying to get this done so we can save some money in the long run, but I need some money to get it done with initially.
Part-time for Training & Quality Control, as you are all aware there’s several things that aren’t just right. We need to put some money toward figuring out what’s wrong, and getting it resolved. We have people working extra hours that turn them in. It takes, apparently, six to eight hours to get every payroll done of overtime. I think if people are going to work the overtime, we need to get it done, and I’m just trying to get this thing where it will work. The $27,000 is what it will take to do the part-time people. So that’s where I’m at.

Mr. Whitten, Questions?

Mr. Kopp, And we can talk about TIF too, if you want, because this is also part of that.

Mr. Whitten, Mr. Kopp has graciously agreed to come give us an update on the TIF situation, and what kind of progress is being made there. I don’t know if you would like to hear that update now, since it sort of ties into this or toward the end of the meeting. But, perhaps we can hear it now. Why don’t you update us.

Mr. Kopp, Alright. We have looked at the TIF parcels, and there are 17 of them, I believe. The Town of Porter has two parcels to add, and nine pending that need more research. The City of Portage has five parcels to add. Valpo, Southeast Economic Development has none. Valpo, Franklin Street has four parcels to delete. Valpo, South 49 has none. Washington, Valpo, Southwest Washington Township, one parcel to add, three to remove. Chesterton, 67 to add. Burns Harbor, 13 records to add. Valparaiso, North Development, none. And that is a preliminary look of where we are at. That’s what we’ve researched to date.
Now we have to go back and look at where we are with dollars, back to 2000 with the tax rates, and where it’s going. We have expended 171 man-hours of which ten are overtime hours at this point. We’re looking at approximately 400 man-hours to finish this, and that is within about 75% of what the consultant estimated initially. His price was about $120,000. We’re going to end up substantially less if we finish it. But it has to get done before we can get a tax rate. So we either have to go on the outside to get it done or we have to do it ourselves.

Mr. Whitten, How many man-hours did you say left to?

Mr. Kopp, We have expended 171.

Mr. Whitten, And how many do you anticipate needing?

Mr. Kopp, 400 more.

Mr. Whitten, 400 more.

Mr. Kopp, And that’s strictly a guess. I have no idea. Look at what’s there, and pick a number.

Mrs. Stevenson, That’s hourly, that’s not overtime, correct?

Mr. Kopp, That’s hourly, but there’s, some of that’s going to end up overtime, because I’m going to have to work people over. We have to run a department too. There’s only certain people that can do this.

Mrs. Stevenson, Correct.

Mr. Kopp, But it’s got to get done.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Can we get a copy of that?

Mr. Kopp, Yes, I can give you this.

Ms. Noll, If you give it to me, I’ll make copies.

Mr. Whitten, I’d like to have a copy.

Mr. Kopp, You don’t want the supporting data, do you?

Mr. Poparad, Have you been in contact with the municipalities on this?

Mr. Kopp, Not yet. This just got done today. We’ve been working very hard to get this done, and not doing some of the other stuff we need to be doing. Because when it was first proposed, it looked like, somebody told me 16-man days, and we’re well over 16-man days, and no where near done.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.
Mr. Kopp, So we’re trying, but.

Mr. Bucko, Help me with this a little bit, if I may. It looks like roughly if you’ve got that, now if you’re in a ballpark, and you’re right on at about 409 hours, you’re looking at 238 more hours, give or take, to get the project completed.

Mr. Kopp, No, I’m looking at 400 more hours.

Mr. Bucko, 400 additional. That’s not of the over 400?

Mr. Kopp, Right.

Mr. Bucko, Okay. Alright, and the $27,000 is, you’re requesting is where compared to, what was it, 102,000 that Umbaugh…

Mr. Kopp, I believe Umbaugh’s quote was 102,000, but it was an hourly rate. They were quoting approximately 100-man hours. And when this was originally proposed we do this within the county, 100-man days, rather, and 16 man-days within the county. There’s too much of a difference, and I should have said something when it was proposed to do this. Somewhere in-between is going to be the shoe, but I don’t know where.

Mr. Bucko, Well I was just kind of looking at the difference in the savings and the expenditure, so. Based on that, based on a dollar amount, what do you think the difference saved by, is by giving the requested 27,000? What was that? Have you got a…

Mr. Kopp, You’re looking at…

Mr. Bucko, Have you got a ballpark?

Mr. Kopp, 40 or $50,000 in savings.

Mr. Bucko, About $60,000 less. Okay. I mean, you know, that helps to make a decision whether, do we have an issue, Mr. President, with a finalization of our budget?

Mr. Poparad, Yes, it’s not be finalized.

Mr. Bucko, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, I’ve got, you made a comment earlier, and I’ve got to ask a question. You’re going to pay claims weekly?

Mr. Kopp, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, How?

Mr. Kopp, Just like you pay them monthly. Everything that’s in on Monday morning is going to go through the system, get sent…

Mr. Poparad, The commissioners…

Mr. Kopp, To the Chesterton Tribune on Tuesday, published Wednesday…

Mr. Poparad, Excuse me, don’t the commissioners have to approve the claims for the pay?

Mr. Kopp, They have to sign off on them.

Mr. Poparad, Right, and they meet twice a month.

Mr. Kopp, They don’t have to have a meeting to sign off. Two commissioners have to sign before we mail then, or before their meeting rather.

Mr. Hollenbeck, This is the first time I’m hearing this, but my first reaction to that is the commissioners take action at public meetings.

Mr. Kopp, They can initial them before, then take action. But if they meet twice a month, and they meet on Tuesday, they will have their previous week, and the week of for their meeting.

Mr. Hollenbeck, All I’m saying, it is my belief that the commissioners take action at public meetings, and part of the action is to approve claims.

Mr. Kopp, Yes. They have to officially approve them.

Mr. Hollenbeck, As long as that’s happening.

Mr. Kopp, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Any…

Mr. Kopp, Right now our vendors wait 60 to 90 days for their money. And at the end of the month, whatever our cut-off date is, everybody brings in a pile of stuff that really messes up our workload. So if we go to weekly paying, when they bring them in, they’ll get paid. That will ultimately save the County money.

Mr. Bucko, Just on the workload, I know there’s, it seems to me it’s automatically a savings there. But also based on discounts earned, perhaps from vendors, you know, I don’t even know if you’ve got that number.

Mr. Kopp, There are vendors that will not sell to the County now that we go to a third party, and pay them markup to get stuff.

Mr. Bucko, Yes, I think there’s a savings all the way around, a potential for it. Yes.

Mr. Kopp, I need some help to make this happen is why.

Mr. Poparad, I don’t disagree with the fact that maybe there needs to be some readjustment of the workload or anything like that. I guess I’m taking issue to the fact, this is the first meeting of the year, and you want $32,000 more. You have part-time money in your budget now, correct?

Mr. Kopp, I have part-time people at $10 an hour.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, How much is in that budget? How much is in his part-time?

Mr. Kopp, My part-time budget, I believe is $17,000.

Mr. Poparad, Okay. First of all, we have to approve the part-time wage, which we haven’t done.

Mr. Kopp, And guess.

Mr. Poparad, You’re taking the full-time to a part-time, so my first inclination is to take that full-time salary, and turn it into part-time. Because I don’t think this board is too inclined to add more people to the budget.

Mr. Kopp, Well I’m not asking for a full-time person. I’m asking for a part-time person.

Mr. Poparad, So we’ll take the full-time salary, and make that part-time.

Mr. Kopp, I need the full-time person. There is no backup to do any of these jobs in the auditor’s office, literally.

Mr. Poparad, I don’t disagree with that. My point is, if you are taking a full-timer to part-time, we’ll just transfer that salary to part-time.

Mr. Kopp, But I need the salary for a full-time person.

Mr. Poparad, So you need another body?

Mr. Kopp, Yes. And my, excuse me, I’m dying today. My impression was that we don’t want anymore full-time people, so I’m going to try to do it with part-time people. Ultimately I will eliminate part of the part-time people as I get automated, and the automation system on computer, but we have no used any of it.

Mr. Poparad, I mean it just appears to me we’re creating a full-time, we’re going to have another full-time position, because you’re going to have a part-timer at 16.92 working full-time, basically.

Mr. Kopp, No she’s going to work 1,000 hours or 1,500 hours or whatever. She will not work full-time. She doesn’t want to work full-time.

Mr. Whitten, So three-fourths time, is that right, 1,500?

Mr. Poparad, 1,500…

Mr. Bucko, Here, 1,500.

Mr. Poparad, 1,580 hours is a work issue

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, I’m not adverse to what you are trying to do, I’m addressing the fact, this is the third day of the year, and you want $32,000 more, and you still have money in your budget. You’re not out of money.

Mr. Kopp, I’m not out of money.

Mr. Poparad, Right, that’s my point.

Mr. Kopp, Alright, if you give me the hourly rates, then I will go ahead, and when we get low on money, I’ll come back to you. But I think you need to be aware that I cannot do this with the monies I have, and that’s why I’m trying to tell you, here’s the monies I need. And I need the overtime money to continue work on the TIF.

Mr. Poparad, How did 16.92 become arrived at?

Mr. Kopp, That’s the hourly, that’s the hourly rate she’s paid on a salary basis.

Mr. Poparad, But yet, you have part-time in your budget for 10 or $12 an hour.

Mr. Kopp, I have $10 an hour in my budget for part-time.

Mr. Poparad, What did you have, 28,000 in that?

Mr. Kopp, I think my part-time is 17,000.

Mr. Poparad, 17,000.

Mr. Whitten, I thought we had 20-some thousand.

Mr. Bucko, 23,000 in Hourly?

Mr. Whitten, That’s what we had.

Mr. Bucko, That’s what I said.

Mr. Kopp, We don’t have access to the computer yet, so I don’t know.

Mr. Whitten, I thought there was like 20-some thousand in there.

Mr. Murphy, How long will that go?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Jan, do you have a budget?

Ms. Noll, I have a salary ordinance here. Part-time up to 10.50 an hour is what I’m showing.

Mr. Hollenbeck, But what’s the total amount in the auditor’s?

Ms. Noll, Total amount, I believe it’s 28,000. I looked that up earlier.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Mr. President, also, and I think Mike was about to make this point. As I emailed you, realistically, what the auditor is suggesting he would do is pragmatically what’s going to happen anyway. Because DLGF will not approve an additional appropriation in January. They make you wait, and this is kind of a Catch-22, they make you wait until they approve your budget order before they’ll approve, because theoretically, we’re spending money now on a budget that hasn’t been approved.

Mr. Whitten, That’s right.

Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s, they’re not going to allow you to do additionals to a budget that hasn’t been approved yet. So realistically, what the auditor is going to be doing is spending what’s already in the budget. And as Mr. Poparad alluded to, at such time that that is gone…

Mr. Whitten, Then it’s appropriate to come back.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Then it’s appropriate to be asking for more money to come into the fund.

Mr. Carmichael, Does he want to change the rate on that? The $10 rate?

Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s…

Mr. Kopp, Yes.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Right that’s, that’s the other part…

Mr. Kopp, That’s the other part of it.

Mr. Hollenbeck, You could do.

Mr. Carmichael, Until the original amount is expended.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Right that, that you could clearly could take action on.

Mr. Carmichael, I don’t have a problem with that.

Mr. Hollenbeck, You could take action on that tonight.

Mr. Bucko, What, 10 to 12? Is that what you want to do?

Mr. Kopp, I’m asking for one girl at 16.92, and somewhere between 12 and 20 for a person that’s going to do quality control auditing. We have to stop the stuff from going out of the office wrong, and nothing is getting reviewed, signed off on. I’ve got to have somebody who can do that. You’re all aware of the problems that have taken place, so. We’ve got to address them somehow. If we don’t address them, I’m not going to say they’re never going to happen again, but we’ve got to do something.

Mr. Carmichael, The motion is up to that amount. Okay? You don’t necessarily have to pay that amount, the full amount.

Mr. Kopp, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, Up to that amount.

Mr. Poparad, Yes, but I disagree with the range, you know.

Mr. Bucko, The 12 to 20?

Mr. Poparad, Well whatever, we don’t do ranges. We do finite numbers.

Mr. Whitten, So there’s 28,000 in there, by the way.

Mr. Poparad, But I’m saying in terms of, 12 to $20 an hour.
Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Mr. Poparad, Alright.

Mr. Whitten, Well what’s your pleasure? Maybe we want to take the 144 first?

Mr. Poparad, Well, I’m just going to…

Mr. Whitten, Let’s deal with this.

Mr. Poparad, You know, nothing against Mr. Kopp, but.

Mr. Kopp, I don’t know what I can go out and find. I haven’t gone looking because I didn’t know if I had any money to go look, so.

Mr. Poparad, Well, I guess my question, I’ll make a motion to deny the whole request.

Mr. Poparad moved to deny the 144 Form and additional appropriation requests submitted by Auditor 01.02.

Mr. Poparad, Let him work with what he has.

Mr. Whitten, You’re talking about the 144 and the additional, the whole thing.

Mr. Poparad, All of it, the whole thing.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Is there a second?

Mrs. Stevenson seconded.

Mr. Whitten, There’s a motion and a second. Discussion?

Mr. Poparad, I guess what frustrates me, and nothing against you, and nothing with the auditor’s office, but I don’t know that throwing more money at it might be the answer, but I don’t know if we’ve given it a fair shake.

Mr. Whitten, Well I think…

Mr. Kopp, But you’ve already told me to throw more money at the TIF.

Mr. Poparad, Correct, and you’ve got a good…

Mr. Kopp, Well give me some money to throw at it.

Mr. Poparad, But you haven’t spent the money you have.

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, here’s the thing. Here’s what I want to say, couple of things here. One, is you said you don’t know what’s out there, you really haven’t gone out and looked at what you can get. So I can see where we might want to do that first. And second of all, you do have money in your budget.

Mr. Kopp, Right.

Mr. Whitten, So it’s not that we’re not, it’s not that we’re saying, we’re not going to give you more money. We just feel it’s appropriate for you to come to us and say, this is how much I’ve spent.

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, Which has caused this shortfall…

Mr. Poparad, Right.

Mr. Whitten, In my anticipated year…

Mr. Kopp, Alight.

Mr. Whitten, And this is what I need from you.

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t want there to be an impression that we’re not supporting you in at least trying to fix the obvious problems in that office.

Mr. Kopp, Okay, but I need to have some wage money then.

Mr. Bucko, Mr. Chairman, is the issue then the rate that he can use when he goes out to solicit the individual. The money, the bottom line being 28,000 is what he has. If he puts it at 20, and uses it up, that’s what will be used up. If he can get somebody from somewhere between 15 and 20…

Mr. Whitten, That’s right.

Mr. Bucko, The maximum being 20, and I forget, it’s been too long, but, you know, you’re looking at ranges. I guess if we have not done a range in the county before, then, you know.

Mr. Poparad, Well, let’s be obvious. I mean we don’t do ranges, and if the range is 12 to 20, he’s going to pay 20. That’s the bottom line. Why don’t we just say its 20 here, because he ain’t going to find somebody for 18 when they know, after the newspaper tomorrow that the range can be to 20.

Mr. Kopp, Well I don’t know.

Mr. Poparad, Then you already have somebody in mind and what do they want.

Mr. Kopp, No, I don’t. I don’t.

Mr. Poparad, Well that’s my point. I mean…

Mr. Kopp, Do you pay somebody $10 an hour in your business?

Mr. Poparad, Huh, my business is not up for discussion here. The County’s business is.

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, We just can’t…

Mr. Poparad, There’s a motion on the floor to…

Mr. Whitten, There is. Alright.

Mr. Poparad, Deny the whole thing.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Let’s get to the question. Roll call, please.

Mr. Kopp, You got it, Lindy, I think.

Motion carried on the following roll call vote:

Poparad - Yes Bucko - No
Burge - Yes Carmichael - No
Murphy - Yes Stevenson - Yes
Whitten - Yes

Mr. Whitten, Motion to deny is passed.

Mr. Poparad, When you run out of money, Jim, come on back.

Mr. Kopp, That’s not the issue.

Mr. Whitten, Well there are two, no, that is the issue. There are two, and if I could, we’re done with that. But there are two issues. There’s the issue of the range, the pay you are going to pay, and the issue of if you have enough money in your budget. You’re asking for additionals, and you’re asking for a range. Now I’d like to see…

Mr. Kopp, Well I asked for specific dollars.

Mr. Whitten, Excuse me, this is our meeting.

Mr. Kopp, Good.

Mr. Whitten, What I’m asking you to do is to go out there and see what you can get…

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, With the money that has been appropriated, with the pay that has been passed by this body, and let us know. If it’s not out there, it’s not out there. Just let us know.

Mr. Kopp, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, And then we’ll come back to it.

Mr. Kopp, Alright.

Mr. Whitten, Thank you.

COUNCIL BOARD APPOINTMENTS

NIRPC

Mr. Whitten, Council Board Appointments, this is the fun part. This is where we all get jobs. Okay. As we go, move through these things we’re going to move relatively quickly. Just, let’s not fight over these exciting boards. Just shout out if you’re interested in one. want the first three.

Mr. Bucko, I think there might be one.

Mr. Whitten, Well let’s start with the top of the list here. We’ve got the Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

Mr. Poparad, I think Mr. Bucko would fit nice on that.

Mr. Whitten, Mr. Bucko, do you think you’d fit nice on that.

Mr. Bucko, I would appreciate that board, yes, I would.

Mr. Whitten, Anybody else interested?

Mr. Bucko, Oh, funny thing.

Mr. Whitten, You think that’ll repeat itself.

Mr. Carmichael, Close it up quick.

Mr. Whitten, Hearing no other nominations, congratulations, Mr. Bucko.

Mr. Bucko, Thank you.

NICTD

Mr. Whitten, NICTD.

Mr. Burge, I’d like to nominate Bill Carmichael.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll second that.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, we’ve got a nomination for that. Any other nominations? Hearing none, you’re on NICTD.

Mr. Carmichael, Thank you very much.

Mrs. Stevenson, Congratulations, Bill.

Mr. Carmichael, Alright.

Plan Commission

Mr. Whitten, Plan Commission.

Mr. Poparad, Rita Stevenson expressed an interest in that, and I’m wholeheartedly in support of that.

Mr. Whitten, You’re nominating Rita Stevenson.

Mr. Poparad, Absolutely.

Mr. Whitten, Any other nominations?

Mr. Burge, Mr…

Mr. Murphy, No thanks.

Mr. Bucko, Don’t you dare.

Mr. Whitten, Rita has graciously…

Mr. Bucko, If she wishes to be, then she can. Absolutely.

Mrs. Stevenson, Yikes.

Mr. Whitten, Any other nominations? It’s a very exciting board.

Mr. Poparad, You can sit by Bob Harper.

Mr. Whitten, Any other, no other nominations. Congratulations, Rita.

Mrs. Stevenson, Thank you.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Rita, you can end your meetings with morning prayer.

Mrs. Stevenson, Thanks loads.

Mr. Whitten, Oh no, don’t let him kid you, there’s fast.

Porter County Recycling & Waste Reduction District

Mr. Whitten, Porter County Recycling & Waste Reduction District.

Mr. Poparad, Is anybody interested in that?

Mr. Murphy, I would be interested in that.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Bucko, Alright.

Mr. Carmichael, Who wants it?

Mr. Whitten, Matt.

Mr. Poparad, He wants to be the garbage man.

Mr. Murphy, Is that alright?

Mr. Poparad, No, but it’s you.
Mr. Whitten, Our current appointment is Laura Blaney, and she had expressed an interest in staying on there, but I think…

Mr. Poparad, There might be a legal question.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, if we have a member of our body that’s interested in that, that’s the end of that.

Mr. Poparad, No. Dan, it maybe has to be a member of this body.

Mr. Whitten, Yes. So congratulations, Matt.

Mr. Murphy, Thank you.

Emergency Management Agency

Mr. Whitten, Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Bucko, Is that a two-person board?

Mr. Whitten, It has been.

Mr. Bucko, I would like to.

Mr. Carmichael, Don’t they meet in the mornings.

Mr. Poparad, Jim, you did a good job on that, didn’t you.

Mr. Whitten, He wasn’t on there, you were.

Mr. Poparad, I thought is was me and Jim together.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, did you want to do that, Jim?

Mr. Burge, That’s fine.

Mr. Whitten, I nominate Jim. So we’ve got Bucko and Burge.

Porter County Services

Mr. Whitten, Porter County Services. We had a very good representative last year, that was me.

Mr. Murphy, What is that?

Mr. Whitten, I mean I don’t know, I just know that I was on it.

Mr. Poparad, I nominate Mr. Whitten for Porter County Services.

Mr. Bucko, That’s the old…

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Bucko, Council on Aging.

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Oh yes.

Mr. Bucko, You’re old enough for that.

Mr. Whitten, Thank you, Mike. No other nominations?

Mr. Bucko, Ed Gottschling, is he still on there; he can be your mentor on aging.

Mr. Whitten, Probably is, I think he is.

OTHER COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS

Porter County Historical Society

Mr. Whitten, We’ve got some citizen appointments, right. Oh, we’re not there yet. Other Council Appointments. Porter County Historical Society. Who’s on there now.

Mr. Burge, This past year it was, the citizen appointment, Bruce Hartrunft.

Mr. Poparad, We can fill the blanks in later.

Mr. Burge, He’s not able to.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, he was ours. Do we have one? If we don’t have one we’ll move on and do it later.

Early Intervention Team

Mr. Whitten, Early Intervention Team. Nobody.

Porter County Substance Abuse

Mr. Whitten, Porter County Substance Abuse. We are really batting a thousand.

Family Court Advisory Board

Mr. Whitten, Family Court Advisory Board.

Mrs. Stevenson, I would like it.

Mr. Poparad, I think Rita, yes.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Are these, other council appointments, are these ours? Have we been on that or have we been appointing civilians to those, citizens to those?

Mr. Poparad, Which one, the citizen appointments?

Mr. Whitten, Coming up here. So right now, who is our Family Court Advisory Board appointment? Is it you, Rita?

Mrs. Stevenson, I am.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Alright, good, you’re doing such a great job, keep it up.

Safety Committee

Mr. Whitten, Safety Committee.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take that one.

Mr. Whitten, Alright.

Mr. Poparad, That one dovetails in with the Highway.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

CITIZEN APPOINTMENTS

Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Mr. Whitten, Citizen Appointments. Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Right now it’s Sheryl Draschil.

Ms. Noll, Yes, I’ve not received anything.

Mr. Poparad, Is she up?

Ms. Noll, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael, They have to submit a letter.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, Which way, Bill?

Mr. Carmichael, The same time the commissioners have to submit theirs, so you have a balanced board.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, Is she automatically reappointed?

Mr. Whitten, I don’t think so.

Mr. Poparad, Do we open it up for applicants?

Mr. Whitten, Yes, I think we should. She has not, we’ve not received a letter from her.

Ms. Noll, No.

Mr. Whitten, Let’s open it up to receive some letters of interest.

EDC APPOINTMENTS

Burns Harbor EDC

Mr. Whitten, Burns Harbor EDC.

Mr. Poparad, We need a body.

Mr. Whitten, Have we had anybody?

Mr. Poparad, My cousin want it?

Bernie Poparad, No, no. We sent a letter.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, there’s a letter in your packet.

Mr. B. Poparad, There’s a letter in there. I think it’s Jim McGee.

Mr. Whitten, Still?

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, two-thirds of way through your packet there’s a letter from Burns Harbor.

Mr. Whitten, Oh, there’s a few of them, from Burns Harbor and Valpo. Okay, fine.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Requesting James McGee.

Mr. Whitten, There it is.

Mr. R. Poparad, No, it says Robert Perrine.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, that’s right.

Mr. Bucko, Robert Perrine.

Mr. R. Poparad, Robert Perrine.

Mr. Hollenbeck, So you changed the ordinance.

Jane Jordan, No, it should be James McGee.

Mr. R. Poparad, James McGee?

Ms. Jordan, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, That’s not what mine says, mine says Robert…

Mr. Poparad, Mine says Robert Perrine.

Ms. Jordan, It should be James McGee.

Mr. Poparad, Okay, Iet's, I’ll nominate James McGee…

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, For the Burns Harbor EDC.

Mr. Whitten, I should nominate Robert Perrine, see if gets interesting.

Mr. Bucko, Ho, ho, ho.

Mr. Poparad, Why not, make it interesting.

Mr. Whitten, That’s fine, Jim McGee.

Mr. Bucko, I’ve got Jim McGee.

Mr. Whitten, Why do we have different ones?

Mr. Bucko, I don’t know.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, well, there you go. No other nominations.

Valparaiso EDC

Mr. Whitten, Valparaiso EDC.

Mr. Poparad, Michael…

Mr. Bucko, Is that Scott still?

Mr. Poparad, I’ve got Michael Baird. Oh, Michael Baird is up.

Mr. Whitten, Oh, I have one too.

Mr. Hollenbeck, I do know that Michael is serving on the Valparaiso Board, and I’m virtually certain that the Mayor would want his continued presence.

Mr. Poparad moved to appoint Michael Baird to the Valparaiso Economic Development Commission. Mr. Bucko seconded.

Mr. Whitten, Michael Baird is on.

PTABOA

Mr. Whitten, PTABOA.

Mr. Poparad, John Scott appears to want Barbara Wiggins and James Loft.

Mr. Whitten, Looft.

Mr. Bucko, Is that the recommendation or is that the two from Scott?

Mr. Hollenbeck, You make the appointments, but Mr. Scott is recommending…

Mr. Whitten, He’s recommending Barbara Wiggins, Level II, and James Looft, Level I.

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure?

Mr. Poparad moved to appoint Barbara Wiggins and James Looft to the PTABOA Board for 2007. Mr. Bucko seconded.

Mr. Whitten, I guess we should be voting on these. Any other nominations?

COUNCIL LIAISON APPOINTMENTS

Adult Probation

Mr. Whitten, Council Liaison Appointments.

Mr. Bucko, Mr. Chairman, I would like to be considered for the Airport.

Mr. Poparad, I want the airport.

Mr. Whitten, Alright, hold on a second here.

Mr. Poparad, That’s the only one I wanted was the airport.

Mr. Whitten, Really?

Mr. Poparad, I wanted airport and highway. That’s it.

Mr. Bucko, Well I did it because I was on there before.

Mr. Poparad, Okay.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, let’s take them one at a time. We’ve got Adult Probation first.

Mr. Bucko, No.

Mr. Whitten, I’m sorry, you’re so anxious, jumping around. Who is it now? Who’s on adult probation now?

Ms. Noll, Al Steele.

Mr. Murphy, Al Steele.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, he won’t be.

Mr. Murphy, He’s on adult probation.

Mr. Whitten, So I think that, just by virtue…

Mr. Poparad, By virtue of election, it goes to Murphy.

Mr. Bucko, Yeah.

Mr. Murphy, I’d be happy to.

Mr. Whitten, Alright, wonderful.

Mr. Poparad, Neil, take him to lunch.

Airport

Mr. Whitten, Airport. Who’s interested in the airport?

Mr. Poparad, Mr. Bucko is.

Mr. Bucko, Fine.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Nobody else interested?

Animal Control

Mr. Whitten, Animal Control. I’d like that.

Mr. Bucko, Poor dogs.

Mr. Whitten, Heck yeah.

Assessor & Township Assessors

Mr. Whitten, Assessor and township assessors.

Mr. Poparad, Bill?

Mrs. Stevenson, Bill?

Mr. Carmichael, Alright.

Mr. Whitten, Bill.

Auditor

Mr. Whitten Auditor, I’ll take that if nobody else wants it.

Mr. Bucko, There’s a double on there before.

Mr. Whitten, Who else wants to be the auditor, ha, the auditor appointment, liaison? I don’t think he wants me on there. Me and somebody else?

Mr. Bucko, I’ll, you don’t want it, Rita?

Mrs. Stevenson, No.

Mr. Bucko, I’ll take it then.

Circuit Court

Mr. Whitten, Circuit Court, I’d like that.

Mrs. Stevenson, I would too.

Mr. Whitten, Anybody else?

Clerk

Mr. Whitten, Clerk.

Mrs. Stevenson, I would like that, along with you.

Mr. Whitten, I’ll take it. Anybody else?

Mr. Bucko, For which?

Mr. Whitten, Clerk.

Commissioners

Mr. Whitten, Commissioners. I guess I should be one of them, but.

Mr. Bucko, I’ll take one.

Mr. Whitten, Anybody else?

Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission

Mr. Whitten, Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission. Bill, you’re on now, do you want to do it again?

Mr. Carmichael, Yes.

Coroner

Mr. Whitten, Coroner, it’s a very lively appointment. That joke gets better every year. Anybody?

Mr. Bucko, Just dying to get on there.

Mr. Murphy, I’ll take coroner.

Mr. Whitten, Wonderful.

Drainage Board

Mr. Whitten, Drainage Board. I’ll do it again, if nobody else wants it.

E-911/Public Safety

Mr. Whitten, E-911/Public Safety. Do you want it again, Jim?

Mr. Poparad, Do you want two?

Mr. Whitten, Well we have two. You guys want it?

Mr. Burge, Alright.

Mr. Poparad, Yes. Is that the sheriff too?

Mr. Whitten, Bob and Jim.

Election Board

Mr. Whitten, Election Board. Again, it was Steele.

Mr. Bucko, That’s clearing the market.

Mr. Murphy, I think Jim wanted that one, don’t you. No.

Mr. Burge, No.

Mr. Murphy, Sure.

Mr. Whitten, Alright, wonderful.

EMA

Mr. Whitten, EMA, it’s been you, Jim. Again?

Mr. Burge, Yes, that’s fine.

Environmental

Mr. Whitten, Environmental, it was Laura, my old friend Laura.

Mr. Murphy, It goes to Bucko.

Mr. Bucko, Well you know what…

Mr. Murphy, You’re going to play that game.

Mr. Bucko, That might not be, because it dovetails with NIRPC too.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, good.



Expo

Mr. Whitten, Expo.

Mr. Bucko, I’ll do that.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Extension Office

Mr. Whitten, Extension Office. Bill, it was you, do you want it again.

Mr. Murphy, It’s Bill.

General Courts

Mr. Whitten, General Courts, I’d like to have that.

Mrs. Stevenson, I would too.

Mr. Whitten, Anybody else.

Health Department

Mr. Whitten, Health Department.

Mr. Carmichael, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Bill?

Mr. Carmichael, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Rita, do you want to do that again with him?

Mrs. Stevenson, Sure.

Mr. Bucko, Have the responsibilities of the liaison changed from where they were in the past, other than?

Mr. Whitten, Well, you know what we did last year was we had the liaisons try to meet with all of theirs, or speak with all of their respective departments; get an idea of a dream-sheet for the budgets; get it to us; and that gave us something to at least see as we went into the budget sessions. So it was a very useful tool. And I don’t know how they did it back when you were on.

Mr. Bucko, Not too much.

Mr. Whitten, I was in junior high at the time.

Mr. Bucko, Yeah, you were still a puppy.

Mr. Whitten, I’m still a puppy now.

Mr. Bucko, I had to say that.

HIGHWAY

Mr. Whitten, Highway.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take highway.

Mr. Whitten, Bob, alright.

ITS

Mr. Whitten, ITS, Jim, you still want that?

Mr. Murphy, What is that?

Mr. Whitten, I don’t know, it’s ITS, Jim, you were the liaison.

Mr. Burge, Yes, sure, why not.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. I don’t know what it is, but, Jim was doing a really good job, so.

Mr. Bucko, Oh yeah, that’s cool.

Jail

Mr. Whitten, Jail.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take the jail with somebody else.

Mr. Whitten, Anybody else for jail, we need two.

Mr. Poparad, Whoever is with me on public safety. Jim?

Mr. Murphy, I’ll take the jail. You want to do that?

Mr. Burge, Yes, that way we go there and get everything done at once.

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Bucko, So what is that, like 911 and jail, all the same.

Mr. Whitten, You ought to take the sheriff’s then too.

Mr. Burge, Yes, they sort of the same.

Mr. Murphy, Yes.

Juvenile Detention
Juvenile Probation

Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Detention and Juvenile Probation.

Mrs. Stevenson, I’ll take them.

Mr. Whitten, Alright.

Memorial Opera House

Mr. Whitten, Memorial Opera House, I think I’d like that.

Mr. Bucko, You going to get a part.

Mr. Whitten, I’m trying to get on stage.

Opportunity Enterprises

Mr. Whitten, Opportunity Enterprises, I think I’d like that again. I have a really good working relationship with them.

Parks

Mr. Whitten, Parks, it was you, Jim.

Mr. Burge, I’ll do it again.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Plan Commission/Building Department

Mr. Whitten, Plan Commission/Building Department, that ought to be Rita.

Mrs. Stevenson, Oh boy.

Mr. Whitten, Because she’s our shining star over at the plan commission now.

Porter-Starke

Mr. Whitten, Porter-Starke, I think I’d like that again, unless somebody has a.

Prosecutor
Prosecutor IV-D
Public Defender

Mr. Whitten, Prosecutor, it was you and me, Rita.

Mrs. Stevenson, There we go.

Mr. Whitten, Do it again?

Mrs. Stevenson, Yep.

Mr. Whitten, Same with IV-D, I assume.

Mrs. Stevenson, Yes, and Public Defender.

Mr. Whitten, Okay. Anybody else want any of these?

Mrs. Stevenson, We’ll share.
Recorder

Mr. Whitten, Recorder. Bill, do you want that?

Mr. Carmichael, That’s fine.

Sheriff
Sheriff’s Garage

Mr. Whitten, Sheriff, Sheriff’s Garage.

Mr. Poparad, I’ll take it.

Mr. Burge, I will too.

Mr. Whitten, Jim and Bob.

Soil & Water

Mr. Whitten, Soil & Water. That should be Matt, I think.

Mr. Burge, It goes with the solid waste district stuff.

Mr. Murphy, Good point.

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

Mr. Whitten, Courts, 1 through 6, I’d like to do that. Rita, will you do that with me again?

Mrs. Stevenson, Yes.

Surveyor

Mr. Poparad, Surveyor goes into Soil & Water too.

Mr. Whitten, Yeah, I’m sure it does.

Mr. Murphy, That’s fine.

Treasurer

Mr. Whitten, Treasurer. It was Al.

Mr. Poparad, Now we can’t have, no, Matt can’t.

Mr. Burge, I’ll do it.

Veterans Service

Mr. Whitten, Veterans, I’d like to do that. I am one.

Voters Registration

Mr. Whitten, Voters Registration. Bill, it was you last time.

Mr. Carmichael, Fine.

Weights & Measures

Mr. Whitten, Weights & Measures, Jim, it was you the last time.

Mr. Burge, I’ll do it.

Welfare/Family & Children

Mr. Whitten, Welfare/Family & Children, ah, Jim.

Mr. Burge, No comment.

Mr. Whitten, Rita, it was you last time.

Mrs. Stevenson, You and I.

Mr. Whitten, Alright, we’ll do it together.

Mrs. Stevenson, We’ll leave you out of it, Jim.

Mr. Burge, Keep the peace, huh.

Mr. Whitten, Alright, we’ve got some vacancies here, and we’ll fill these at our next meeting with the civilian appointments. We’ll get some letters of interest in on these, and get them filled.

Mr. Bucko, Is there any qualifying factors for, what are you looking for, the one on Alcohol & Beverage?

Mr. Whitten, Well, I think it’s really somebody that’s willing to do it. I think that’s the…

Mr. Burge, If they can do it.

Mr. Poparad, Breathing.

Mr. Whitten, Where with all to breath and write a letter, they’ve been qualified.

Mr. Bucko, Really, so breath and write the letter.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Hang around in a lot of bars.

Mr. Whitten, That’s right. So we’ll get something out on that.

Mr. Poparad, A graduate of AA.

Mr. Whitten, The next thing on the, thank you very much.

Mr. Carmichael, Better get an application to see what the requirements are.

Mr. Bucko, I think, I wondered.

Mr. Carmichael, There are requirements.

Mr. Whitten, Okay, we’ve got our, and we will. When we send out something, put out something for applications, we’ll list what the criteria are, saying rather, tongue-and-cheek with the letter writing and the breathing.

POLICY MEMORANDUM

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

Mr. Whitten, A couple of things I see of note, one is that we have allowed on number two, the elected official or department head to send a representative who has knowledge of the request. I think that might be something we want. We’ve allowed a chief deputy to show up.

Mr. Bucko, A chief deputy or something?

Mr. Whitten, So that might be, so perhaps we can amend that to say or…

Mr. Bucko, With a permission slip.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, with a hall pass. Or a representative from the department with knowledge of the request. Are you guys okay with that? Because we’ve allowed it. So we can do that. Any other comments on this?

Mr. Bucko, Would it be an issue, I mean if it becomes a habit, not a habit of any one individual, but the fact that you’ll never get a department head or an elected official in here asking for something. Then they just assign it to somebody. I mean are we concerned with that?

Mr. Whitten, We can just deny them.

Mr. Bucko, Yes, you could do that, you could break the habit.

Mr. Hollenbeck, The sheriff’ done that for four years.

Mr. Whitten, I mean I’ve had circumstances where the department head has called me and said, I’m out of town, can I send somebody.

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, So maybe we want, do we want to put something in here?

Mr. Bucko, Extenuating circumstances.

Mr. Whitten, Something with, you know, contact or approval from the president or vice president, something like that?

Mr. Carmichael, Dan, I think maybe at the end here, as an addendum or something, you could put in there, unusual circumstances need a positive vote or something in order to be considered at one meeting. Something that would give us an out in case we run into a real bind.

Mr. Whitten, Right.

Mr. Carmichael, The sheriff’s department emergency, you know, we can always call it an emergency, I guess.

Mr. Poparad, Yes, I agree with Bill. If we open the can to, if we open the door to an appointed person coming, we’ll never see the elected official or department head.

Mr. Whitten, Take it out.

Mr. Poparad, Maybe leave it alone, and put some language in there about what Bill said. Maybe with the president’s approval, the substitute can come. Without the president’s approval…

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Bucko, You can make it the president and vice president approval, period. It only takes 30 seconds to get that.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, that’s right. Okay. Any other comments on this?

Mr. Carmichael, Dan, I think something we should have on the agenda each meeting towards the end is liaison reports.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, You’re liaison to the court system and so forth, what’s coming, you know, what’s happening, have you had a meeting with them; no, no meeting, nothing on the agenda.

Mr. Bucko, Makes sense.

Mr. Carmichael, What have you done with yours.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Carmichael, Well now they’re going to have a request, and there’s a movement of foot.

Mr. Whitten, Sure.

Mr. Carmichael, It would help with these liaisons to let us know what’s coming.

Mr. Whitten, Sure, and if, as we move down, as we get to that point on the agenda, we can just ask, do you have any report from any of your departments, and if you have one, that would be the time to lay it on us, and if not, then we can…

Mr. Poparad, Uh huh.

Mr. Bucko, And if it became burdensome, you can make it a point to email the whole council, and at least you’ve got an email to the council.

Mr. Whitten, That’s fine. I think that’s a good idea, Bill. Okay, what’s your pleasure with the 2007 Policy Memorandum?

Mr. Poparad moved to adopt the 2007 Council Policy Memorandum with the discussed revisions.

Mr. Whitten, We have a motion to approve and adopt the 2007 Policy Memorandum, with the change that requires the department head to get president and vice president approval to send a representative. Is that right, Bob?

Mr. Poparad, Yes.

Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

ATTORNEY REPORT

Mr. Whitten, Attorney Report, Mr. Hollenbeck.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Quickly, since our last meeting, despite the best efforts of myself and others, we were unable to complete the major moves borrowing that you authorized. The holidays got in the way, and the banks were disinclined to get serious given their year-end closing, and whatnot. So now that we are after the first of the year, I will reactivate that. I will tell you that we now have a determination from the IRS that our idea of linking the two together will create an arbitrage problem for the IRS. So we’re going to have to disconnect them, and get separate proposals from individual institutions for the borrowing side, and from the investment side. So I will continue to work on that, and hopefully by your meeting at the end of the month I’ll have an update for you on that.
The other thing I wanted to quickly mention, and I’ve already discussed it with our new auditor, we are at that time of the year again when cash flow problems become paramount in our ability to pay our bills early on in the calendar year. In the past, we’ve used two sources of revenue to resolve the cash flow problems. We’ve looked first to internal borrowing from funds. The two that we’ve used in the past are the cumulative bridge fund and the reassessment fund. In deference to our commissioners, and the highway department projects, I would suggest that you authorize myself or Dan or someone to contact the commissioner, and see what their plan is for the first half of the year with the bridge fund. The bridge fund goes into 2007 with a balance of $3,616,000.

Mr. Whitten, I can do that, I can contact the commissioners.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, and see what their plans are. Then also, we’ll look at the reassessment fund. By the end of this month, and when you reconvene the end of the month, in working with the auditor, we can have a plan together with some cash flow estimates. But there’s every reason to think at this point with general fund expenditures, about two and a half million dollars a month that come, probably in the middle of or the end of February, we’re going to be in a cash flow crunch, and we’re going to have to either be doing the internal borrowing until the tax revenues come in, which we all know now will be delayed again. Or, go out and issue tax anticipation warrants.
My timeframe for doing that for you is about a month, so I need about a month to know that you’re going to go out and get the tax anticipation warrants. It would be my advice that if we do what we’ve done in the past, to the extent that’s possible and feasible, we do the internal borrowings that the statute allows us to do. Once those are exhausted, then we can turn to the outside, and start having to pay some interest on some tax warrants.

Mr. Poparad, What about borrowing from…

Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, this is, yes, as Bob has alluded to before there’s a legal issue as to what funds we can borrow from. Traditionally, we’ve been told, and I’ve taken the position that the statute limits funds the source of revenue, which is real estate property taxes. I will explore that issue again, in the context of ’07. If we can expand borrowing, we have a number of significant non-real estate property tax funds where there is some money that we can borrow from. I’ll have that answer definitively for you by the end of the month.

Mr. Whitten, Well I’ll now talk with the commissioners with respect to their plans for the bridge fund.

Mr. Poparad, I asked them about unallocated EDIT is what I asked them about.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Bucko, Is there still a minimum amount that must remain in the bridge fund? It used to be a long time ago.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, Mike, I think the only minimum now is…

Mr. Bucko, Remember that?

Mr. Carmichael, No, there’s no minimum.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, there’s no minimum anymore.

Mr. Bucko, Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, What there is, is simply the desire, I mean it’s the commissioners’ fund, and I’m sure they have plans to spend it, and we don’t want to significantly interfere. And I don’t know this to be true, but if they’ve got a $2,000,000 project that’s going to break ground in April, then that sets a limit how much we can borrow from that fund.

Mr. Whitten, What I’ll do is I’ll speak with the commissioners, and by our next meeting, I’m sure one of the commissioners will be here, and we can address that with Bob. Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s the end of my report.

Mr. Whitten, Thank you, Mr. Hollenbeck.

SECOND READING

Mr. Poparad moved to approve Second Reading. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.

ANY OTHER MATTER - SPECIAL MEETING DATE

Mr. Whitten, Any other matter that may come properly before the Council. There’s one thing I’d like to address. We had a wonderful meeting where we invited, and had great attendance of elected officials throughout the county. We did tell them at that meeting that we would be having another, and that we would be setting that up. I’d like to know what your thoughts are for our next meeting with them.

Mr. Bucko, Would it, depending on where we are with the balances, the issues and stuff that the auditor is doing?

Mr. Whitten, It could. But it also includes some assessor work, and I think that there were a great deal of questions and concerns. And I think that, correct me if I’m wrong, but there was a sense of involvement and information flow that came out of that meeting, and it was very well received. So before the idea sort of dies a slow death, I’d like to see us set up another meeting.

Mr. Poparad, The last Saturday in the month.

Mr. Whitten, There’s no playoff games during that time, is there.

Mr. Poparad, Not at 9:00 in the morning.

Mr. Whitten, We have to prioritize these things, Bob.

Mr. Poparad, I know.

Mr. Whitten, How’s everybody for the last Saturday.

Mr. Poparad, Saturday seemed to work.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, Saturday did seem to get us a good attendance. Bob always brings donuts.

Mr. Bucko, But you definitely though, keep in mind that you’ve got to have something to show people. Or, you know, I mean it’s nice to…

Mr. Poparad, Well if nothing else, we can get them all in a room and say, your tax bills, right. But we can also get them in a room, and make them aware that their tax bills are going to be late still. We haven’t solved the problem.

Mr. Whitten, Would you like to do it this month.

Mr. Bucko, Well that’s true.

Mr. Whitten, Or would you like to set something up in February.

Mr. Poparad, I don’t want to let it go.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Poparad, And get all the assessors in here.

Mr. Bucko, The last Saturday in January.

Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s the 27th.

Mr. Bucko, The morning’s alright.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, they’re in the morning. We’re going to have them early, like 9:00. 9:00 on the 27th, does that work for everybody?

Mr. Bucko, Certainly.

Mr. Poparad, Do I have to buy donuts again?

Mr. Murphy, Yes.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Absolutely. And coffee.

Mr. Poparad, No, I didn’t buy the coffee, I bought the donuts.

Mr. Whitten, I’d also like to get on our agenda, liaison reports, like Bill suggested. Is there any problems with that? I think it’s a good thing, so let’s.

Mr. Bucko, Would it be appropriate at this time to ask whether or not. I remember back in the 90’s, that was in the early age of email and whatever, there was a thought about creating a form for the budget requests, and being able, if it’s in a form format, then it can be emailed, and we don’t have to run around this place. And that’s a very simple form to lay out, and if it were setup for that and a 144 and everything else, the department head could send it out as an email attachment to whomever departments or if they want a hard copy going down, they can. But they can send it to the Council, and the Council can distribute it. It would make life easier.

Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Mr. Bucko, I don’t know…

Mr. Whitten, It’s something to think about, certainly. We all seem to have email.

Mr. Bucko, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Well let’s maybe put something together then.

Mr. Bucko, All we can see, huh. I’ll get somebody to build the form. Build the form, go from there, and see if anybody wants to do anything with it.

MEETING CANCELLATION

Mr. Whitten, The other thing is Jan informs me that our January 23rd meeting, what, the commissioners are telling us to reschedule our meeting.

Ms. Noll, They booted you guys out of here, they rescheduled their meeting on that day.

Mr. Whitten, I don’t know that it works that way.

Mr. Poparad, No, I think that’s our night, isn’t it.

Ms. Noll, You go tell them that.

Mr. Poparad, I will.

Mr. Whitten, You guys want to move the meeting or tell the commissioners that they can’t…

Mr. Poparad, We can’t, it’s set by statute.

Mr. Whitten, Bob.

Mr. Bucko, You can’t say that with a straight face, can you.

Mr. Hollenbeck, I can’t listen to it with a straight face. We do have the final second reading that needs to be signed by everybody, and it’s as opposed to the past we’ve had individual ones, the auditor, which is fine, consolidated it all into one. The only thing I’ve done is, because the vote on the auditor’s was to deny, so I’ve gone ahead and switched it to make it clear that it didn’t past, but it’s actually reversed the way the vote went.

Mr. Whitten, Can we finish the discussion about the meeting? Do we want to move our meeting, if so, give me a night, or do we want to keep it the way it is, and tell the…

Mr. Poparad, Why don’t we just cancel January’s, and have a February meeting.

Mr. Hollenbeck, I may need you in January on transfers and tax warrants, because you may run out of money.

Mr. Whitten, We can call a special meeting to do that.

Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, What do you think?

Mr. Carmichael, What have they got on the 23rd?

Mr. Whitten, They’re having a commissioners’ meeting.

Mr. Burge, Why would they schedule if it conflicts.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, why did they do that? Why did they schedule their meeting?

Ms. Noll, I don’t know. All I know is, Debbie came in and said the commissioners were taking your meeting date. They normally would have met the 16th.

Mr. Whitten, Yes.

Ms. Noll, And then they would…

Mr. Whitten, Ah, that’s…

Ms. Noll, If you guys want to meet on the 16th, you guys can probably do that.

Mr. Whitten, No, I can’t. No good. I can’t the 16th.

Ms. Noll, Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, I think the answer is they moved their first meeting of the month, because it would’ve been yesterday, then they wanted two weeks between their meeting.

Ms. Noll, Is that what it was.

Mr. Hollenbeck, So it got pushed back to the 23rd. Because, normally they would have met yesterday, and then two weeks from yesterday.

Mr. Bucko, What are we, chopped liver.

Mr. Whitten, Well, we can either cancel the meeting, and call a special meeting if we need to.

Mr. Poparad, Why don’t we just cancel it, and if we need to call one, we’ll call one.

Mr. Bucko, Yes.

Mr. Whitten, Okay.

Mr. Hollenbeck, As long as you understand…

Mr. Bucko, We need 48 hours.

Mr. Hollenbeck, That I’ll need you.

Mr. Whitten, That’s fine, then we’ll have a short meeting.

Mr. Hollenbeck, It could be a short…

Mr. Whitten, We’ll notice it out, and if we have to we’ll have it before the commissioners’ meeting or after or they can move their time--it’s our room.

Mr. Poparad, Then we’d just have our February meeting then? Just have our regular February meeting.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, so. Anything from any other member of the body?

Mr. Poparad, Welcome aboard, you guys.

Mr. Murphy, Thank you.

Mr. Whitten, Yes, welcome back, Mike. Welcome aboard, Matt.

Mr. Murphy, Thank you.

Mr. Whitten, It’s going to be an exciting year for us.

Mr. Poparad, We’ll have fun.

Mr. Whitten, With that, shall we adjourn?

There being no further business, meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

Michael Bucko
Jim Burge
William Carmichael
Matthew Murphy
Robert Poparad
Rita Stevenson
Dan Whitten

Attest: James Kopp, Auditor