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PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Poparad moved to amend his motion and approve the Drainage Board 01.26 budget, in the amount of $7,699. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second to it? Mrs. Stevenson seconded. Mr. Whitten, Now let’s get to discussion. Your… Mr. Bucko, I think… Mr. Whitten, Go ahead. Mr. Bucko, I’m sorry. I was just going to say, I think in fairness and whatever else, you’ve got to figure out a way for the formula to work so it doesn’t come back and bite us. Mr. Poparad, Let him figure it out. Mr. Bucko, Well I mean they’ve got an attorney, right. Mr. Poparad, Yeah. Mr. Breitzke, How am I going to charge to our ditches? No, but I would be glad to read this, and figure out if there’s, statutorily, as Mr. Carmichael noticed, there are state directions on how the money can and can’t be spent, and we have to… Mr. Poparad, Well yes, and no disrespect to Bill, Kevin, I’m sure that the ditch fund is used for what the Drainage Board thinks is appropriate, maybe sometimes, not quite following the letter of the law. I mean I’ll withdraw my motion if you want, if this is going to create a problem. Mr. Whitten, Well I… Mr. Poparad, I mean Heaven forbid that we do something that, you know… Mr. Whitten, Are you withdrawing your motion? Mr. Poparad withdrew his motion approving the Drainage Board 01.26 budget, in the amount of $7,699. Mr. Poparad, And I’ll make a new motion, if you want. Mr. Whitten, Does the second withdraw… Mr. Carmichael, The ditch assessment money you wouldn’t want to spend. Mr. Poparad, Huh? Mr. Carmichael, I said if that was ditch assessment money that runs by your house… Mr. Poparad, Uh huh. Mr. Carmichael, You wouldn’t want it spent on… Mr. Poparad, No, I guess the question I’ve been asked by a lot of people… Mr. Carmichael, You’d want it spent on that ditch. Mr. Poparad, Yes, and that’s a question that maybe I’m going to pose to the Surveyor right now. Why does he have $2,000,000 of ditch money? Mr. Carmichael, Because he’s got that much liability. Mr. Poparad, Okay, then why aren’t we cleaning the ditches. That’s what I’m hearing up in Liberty Township. Mr. Breitzke, You’re hearing specific to a ditch that has… Mr. Poparad, No, all I hear, Kevin, is… Mr. Whitten, Okay, I… Mr. Poparad, All I hear is we have flooding all over… Mr. Whitten, Okay, I … Mr. Poparad, I’m not, we have flooding all over the county, and you have $2,000,000. Now how you got the money… Mr. Breitzke, Where… Mr. Poparad, Now, how you got the money… Mr. Breitzke, Wait a minute, where do we have flooding all over the county? Where’s your information coming from? Mr. Poparad, Just drive around, okay. Mr. Breitzke, I drive around after every rain. Mr. Poparad, Yeah. Do we really want to have this conversation right now, Kevin? Mr. Whitten, I don’t, because I think we need to stick with this budget. Let’s just look at this budget. You said you were going to give us a motion, Bob. I’m dying to hear it. What’s your motion? Mr. Bucko, He didn’t withdraw it. Mr. Whitten, He withdrew it. Mr. Poparad, I withdrew it. Mr. Whitten, Okay, do you withdraw your second? I assume. Mr. Bucko, Can’t very well if you haven’t got a motion. Mr. Whitten, I think it kind of, I think it becomes the motion, actually. Mr. Bucko, It dies for lack of a motion. Mr. Whitten, But anyway, what’s your new motion, Bob? Mr. Poparad, 14,921. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Drainage Board 01.26 budget, in the amount of $14,921. Mr. Whitten, We have a motion, is there a second? Mr. Burge seconded. Mr. Whitten, We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Quite frankly, I was going to vote yes to your last motion. Mr. Murphy, He had me convinced. Mrs. Stevenson, Why did you withdraw it? Mr. Poparad, Why? Because he, I’m sorry, I mean I really don’t want to have this conversation right now, but I’m getting tired of people bitching at me about the drainage; he has $2,000,000. Now where the two million came from, I really don’t care anymore. Mrs. Stevenson, Then why don’t you put it back… Mr. Poparad, No, I’m just tired. Mr. Whitten, We have a motion and a second. Mr. Poparad, Because we can’t do anything to the Drainage Board, because the Surveyor and the Drainage Board do whatever the hell they want in this county. They got $2,000,000 sitting over there, and they can’t clean a ditch. And I get tired of the residents calling me because the damn road is flooded, their yards are flooded, the ditch is overflowing, etc, etc, etc. Now, I don’t know anything about drainage, all I know is I’m tired of getting bitched at by, because of the Drainage Board. Mr. Whitten, I guess, Bob, my question is, why did you withdraw your motion? Mr. Poparad, Because this is not the place to have this discussion. Mr. Whitten, Well. Mrs. Stevenson, But if you want, if you wanted to accomplish… Mr. Whitten, Alright. Mrs. Stevenson, Something, you stick with your motion. Mr. Poparad, You want, Do you really want to know what I want to accomplish? I make a motion it’s zero. Mr. Whitten, There’s already a motion and a second on the floor, unless you’re withdrawing that motion. Mr. Poparad, No, I’m done. Mr. Whitten, Alright. Mr. Poparad, It’s already 5:30, and you’ve got me… Mr. Whitten, I know. You were quicker than I thought. Roll call. Motion incomplete on the following roll call vote: Burge - No Carmichael Mr. Carmichael, What’s the motion? Mr. Murphy, Yeah. Mr. Whitten, To approve it as presented. Mr. Carmichael, As presented, absolutely. Motion failed on the following roll call vote:
Burge - No Carmichael - Yes Mr. Kopp, Motion’s defeated. At this point, Mr. Poparad left the meeting.
Mr. Bucko, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what our Attorney said to do was appropriate to do it that way. I don’t think taking the money… Mr. Bucko, Make is perfectly clear. It seemed applicable… Mr. Hollenbeck, What I said was, to the extent that, the reason we’re talking attorney here is because that’s half the budget. Mr. Bucko, Absolutely, I understand. Mr. Hollenbeck, To the extent that the attorney is doing the legal work on a specific project, on a specific dedicated drain for which there is a fund, money is received, I believe that work could be charged to that fund. What I’m hearing Kevin say is, there’s work he does that that will be very difficult, if not impossible, to identify to a specific fund. Mr. Whitten, Well I guess my question is, what if the attorney is working on something, and you need to pay him, and you come to us and say, I need to appropriate some money, he’s been working on this ditch project, and we pull it out of that.
Mr. Breitzke, If there’s additional work, yes, of course, the attorney goes to the fund. Mr. Breitzke, And we pay, you know, that under advisement, but, and I, actually, Mr. Poparad, I don’t have any problem with the thought, it’s just not, you’re kind of catching me off guard with how we can proceed with this. And we do have some pretty tight statutory guidelines for how the money can be used. Mr. Whitten, Let’s have a… Mr. Breitzke, And that’s what I’m trying to follow through with. Mr. Whitten, How about a motion? Well Poparad’s gone, so I don’t know what’s going to happen now. It’s anybody’s bet. Mr. Bucko, He left. Mr. Breitzke, I really didn’t mean to…
Mr. Bucko, Typical Poparad. Mr. Whitten, Is that a motion? Mr. Burge, No, it’s just a comment that by the time we get to the end of this process, we should at least breach that topic… Mr. Whitten, I’m just dying to get a motion. Mr. Burge, On how to prove, and how to change it and make it better. Mr. Whitten, I absolutely agree. This is the year to go after it. You’re absolutely right, we’ve got real problems. Mr. Murphy, Is that a motion? Mr. Whitten, I can’t make it. I’ll entertain one. Mr. Breitzke, We do have a unique type of collections here. One is, the drainage assessments have a line, they have a prescribed amount that they have to reach, and the money has to be available under emergency circumstances. What the money does is enable us to go and borrow from the general drainage improvement fund, if it’s in excess of the amount available in those funds. So it might seem like a lot of money, but if we have major problems, and we came very close this past week, particularly along the Kankakee, with levee blowouts, we’ve spent in excess of the individual funds, and borrowed against those. I still have bills coming in so I don’t know what the real total on the general drainage funds would be. But we have to be aware, this fund was created more from a safety mechanism to protect somebody so we can react immediately. Mr. Whitten, I think the issue though, Kevin, is there some other place to take the 7,222, and now you’re saying it may even be more for the attorney fees. I think that’s the issue. Mr. Breitzke, Well that’s basically… Mr. Whitten, It’s not a question of depleting your funds, I think it’s… Mr. Breitzke, Okay. Then, let me explain too. I believe that the, that’s basically for his 12 months of service, and addressing some minor issues or questions. But when we’re actually into a lawsuit, such as Swanson-Lamporte through Bob’s neighborhood where we actually set the assessment, we were taken to court, we won all six counts of the lawsuit, and it got appealed. I’d love to work on that ditch, but right now it’s in the red. We’ve borrowed against it in the past, we’re trying to make that past billing right, plus also proceed with the work we are supposed to do. This is now an obligation of all drainage boards to do this assessment, and I know it seems like a large amount of money, but it’s what the statutes told the drainage boards in 1965 that these regulated drains are to be assessed for maintenance. Mr. Whitten, Okay. So are you saying then there’s no other fund that you can take the $7,222 from? Mr. Breitzke, At this point, not to my knowledge. Mr. Whitten, Is that your legal opinion, Dave? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, I’ll again indicate what I believe my opinion is, and it’s consistent with what the law is. If… Mr. Whitten, But he’s saying it’s a stipend to come, to be the lawyer. So forget about the working on special projects for a moment. Forget about the allocation of his efforts, he’s saying it’s a 12-month stipend for the lawyer to say I’m your lawyer, and do the kind of things associated with that generally. Mr. Hollenbeck, Your question is, is that appropriate to come out of the drainage funds. At this point, Mr. Poparad returned to the meeting. Mr. Whitten, Any other fund beside this one? Mr. Hollenbeck, I would say you’re going to, it’s going to be a hard fight for you to justify taking that type of work out of a particular fund. Again, to the extent that he’s working on a particular project, dedicated to a specific fund, I think that’s a legitimate expense to charge against that fund. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Hollenbeck, But if he’s, if you’re sued in a general sense, then, you know, you’re going to be hard-pressed to assign that to a particular fund, I would think. Unless it’s a lawsuit about that particular fund. Mr. Whitten, I would think if they get sued, $7,200 isn’t going to be enough anyway, is it? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well that’s kind of what I’m hearing Kevin say, that this $7,200 has been for general work for the Drainage Board, attending meetings, and answering legal questions, and if they do get into issues regarding specific funds, then the additional expense that would be billed would come out of that fund. Mr. Breitzke, It could come out of it. Mr. Hollenbeck, Could come out of that. Mr. Breitzke, Many times, he pretty much works with us. Mr. Whitten, Okay, how about a motion of some sort then?
Mr. Bucko moved to approve the Drainage Board 01.26 budget, in the amount of $14,921. Mr. Murphy seconded, motion carried on the following roll call vote: Mr. Whitten, Okay, that’s it. PLANNING/BUILDING DEPARTMENT 239 Mr. Whitten, Planning Commission; what’s going on with the Planning Commission. Questions, concerns, what’s your pleasure with this budget? Mr. Poparad, Are you picking up these people, Bob? They’re in here, the new people? Bob Thompson, Yes, they’re in here. Mr. Whitten, Two Code Enforcement Officers, and a Planner 1. Mr. Thompson, Right, and we filled one code enforcement position, and the planner position. The one code enforcement at this time is still vacant. Mr. Poparad, The Salaries are the same as last year, correct? Mr. Thompson, No. Mr. Poparad, I mean I see there’s an increase. You want an increase for the? Mr. Thompson, The Building Commissioner. Mr. Poparad, That’s not reflected in this? Mr. Whitten, Well he’s given you a letter at the end. Mr. Poparad, Yes, I know the letter, but I mean it’s not in the line item. Mr. Thompson, We did not reflect it on the budget, no, because the request is in the letter that we sent. Mr. Whitten, So the bottom line number is still 486,440 without the increase. Mr. Poparad, The Hourly… Mr. Whitten, Do you want to increase the hourly rate from 11.46 to 15 an hour? Mr. Thompson, For the part-time building inspector. Mike Haller, Right, that is correct. Mr. Poparad, But the total dollars stay the same. Mr. Haller, The total dollars budgeted to the part-time building inspector? Mr. Poparad, The 52,412 stays the same. Am I reading that right? Mr. Haller, What number are you reading? Mr. Poparad, You want to increase the hourly rate. Mr. Thompson, We did do that… Mr. Poparad, But you keep the dollars the same. Mr. Thompson, Yes, we did do that. I guess in that situation we probably should figure out exactly what. Mr. Poparad, No, we can just leave it the same. Mr. Thompson, That’s fine. Mr. Whitten, Have you been using your Hourly, using it up? Mr. Thompson, Hourly, we have not come back in to ask for an additional. Mr. Whitten, What’s in their Hourly right now? Ms. Minton, $39,011. At this time, Mr. Murphy left the meeting. Mr. Thompson, That should work out. Mr. Whitten, Okay, and you’re not requesting any additional for the Boards? Mr. Thompson, No, we are. Mr. Whitten, It seems like you guys are having some… Mr. Thompson, I mean we kept everything, what you’re seeing on the sheets here were submitted the same. What we did is, we requested all the additionals that we would like within the memo. As far as the Boards, we would like to see that increased, and I think the request we put in would be $100 a meeting. And right now… Mr. Whitten, And $75 for the BZA. Mr. Thompson, Yes, $75 for the BZA. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Thompson, I believe it’s $50 per meeting, the Development Advisory Committee member, which is a Plan Commission appointment, that there I believe we have with Boards, a total of… Mr. Whitten, A $13,200 increase. Mr. Thompson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Okay. I mean you guys have had some marathon meetings, that’s for sure. Mr. Thompson, Yes. Mrs. Stevenson, That’s what they are. Mr. Thompson, Legal fees, line item 3110, I believe when we submitted the memo and everything, we accidentally put that in Training & Education. It was really supposed to be 3110 Legal, we are requesting an increase on that to 30,000 on this budget. The reason being, the past two years we have come in for additionals on the attorneys, so. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure? Mrs. Stevenson, Being that it is a non-general fund, and that this is the money they are bringing in… Mr. Poparad, Hold on. How’s that fund running, Sheila? Ms. Minton, $443,415. Mr. Poparad, How much have they brought in? Ms. Minton, They’ve only had about $4,600 come in this year so far. Mr. Thompson, What we did… Ms. Minton, But they had… Mr. Whitten, I’ve got to hear this. What, Bob? Mr. Thompson, We’ve, Jack Clem and Mike Haller here. We went to the State Board of Accounts, and what we did was work with the State Board of Accounts with our own checking account--in that sense--and then we would reimburse into the general fund. We worked with that, with the State Board of Accounts on that. Mr. Whitten, You have another account. You have a second account? Mr. Thompson, Yes. Originally what we do… Mr. Poparad, Bob Thompson retirement fund. Mr. Whitten, Hahahaha. Mr. Thompson, Well you all told me to run this like a business. Mr. Haller, It’s an interest bearing checking account. Mr. Thompson, It’s an interest bearing checking account we worked out with the State Board of Accounts... Mr. Whitten, Alright. Mr. Thompson, So that’s where that money amount is sitting. Mr. Whitten, So what have you brought into that account? Mr. Haller, All of it. Mr. Whitten, $800,000? Mr. Thompson, Essentially, when we started the account, everything that we were making we were putting into that account. Everybody writes outs the checks to the Porter County Plan Commission. Mr. Whitten, Okay. What’s your pleasure with this one? Mrs. Stevenson, Jim, can you tell us how much extra it would be, what the bottom line would be, if we increased the Boards, and the Training & Education, 3110 to 30,000? Mr. Whitten, That’s going to the lawyers. Mr. Thompson, Training & Education, that was a mistake on our part. It’s not Training & Education, it’s supposed to Legal. Mrs. Stevenson, Okay. Mr. Poparad, They’ve got 25, they want to take it up to 30? Mr. Whitten, Yes, they proposed taking that to 30. Mr. Kopp, What do you want to increase, the Boards $13,200? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. And what’s the other one you want to increase. Mr. Kopp, Training & Education? Mr. Thompson, No. Mr. Poparad, Legal. Mr. Whitten, Legal to 30,000. This is non-general fund. Mrs. Stevenson, Right. Mr. Kopp, It’s $504,640. Mr. Burge, Bob, question on the attorneys’ fund. The various cases that the Plan Commission is involved in, how many of those have been overturned in the last year? Mr. Whitten, You haven’t lost any, have you? Mr. Burge, Through the courts? Mr. Thompson, Through the courts or? Mr. Burge, Or any other means. Mr. Thompson, The courts have yet to overturn the decisions made by the Plan Commission. Mr. Whitten, I think you just won an appeal, didn’t you? Mr. Thompson, Yes, we recently found out the Court of Appeals held up a lower court, excuse me, ruling just recently. Currently, I think we do have one more pending. Mr. Whitten, Were you getting ready to make a motion, Rita? Mrs. Stevenson, I’m in the process, but also the new people have to come in too. Mr. Whitten, I thought they were all done. Mr. Thompson, No. Mr. Kopp, Bob, are you asking to increase the Boards to a total of $13,200 or add $13,200 to the 10,000? Mr. Thompson, Currently, what we have to do the Boards cost us about, I think about 14,000. With a $100 increase to the Plan Commission, and the $75 to the BZA, we’re asking for an increase of $13,000. Mr. Kopp, That’s okay, that’s what we figured. Mr. Thompson, Okay. Mr. Poparad, That’ll go to 23,200. Mr. Kopp, That’s coming out to 504,640. Mr. Whitten, So the big number would be 504,640. Mrs. Stevenson, Well that’s not bringing in the people. Mr. Kopp, Oh, I didn’t add the people in. So we’ve got to add salaries to that. Mr. Whitten, Yes, you’ve got to add, so that should be 357--I’m tired, I can’t keep up. Mr. Kopp, We don’t need FICA or the. Mrs. Stevenson, And we already approved these a month or two ago, correct? Mr. Whitten, Yep, several months ago. Mrs. Stevenson, Now we’re just adding it to your budget for next year. Mr. Thompson, Correct. Mr. Kopp, There’s no PERF involved in this? Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Thompson, Yes, we would have to increase… Mr. Whitten, All that stuff. Mr. Haller, We just guesstimated it. Mr. Kopp, I’ve got 682,248. Mr. Whitten, That’s with FICA, PERF and all that? Mr. Kopp, Yes. Mr. Haller, There’s 22,330 in there for PERF. Mr. Whitten, Yes, he has to add it. Give that big number again, Jim, please. Mr. Kopp, 682,248. That’s increasing Salaries, FICA, Medical/Life Insurance, PERF, adding 13,200 to the Boards, and there’s 5,000 for something else. Mr. Whitten, Lawyer, and when you say increasing Salaries, you’re not talking about giving raises, you’re just adding in. Mr. Kopp, I’m just adding the… Mr. Whitten, I mean the new employees that we approved earlier in the year. Mr. Poparad, What did you have for line 1110, Jim? Line 1110, what did you add, 88,000 or 92,000? Mr. Whitten, I think he added… Mr. Kopp, I added 92,000. Mr. Poparad, So that includes the raise. Read the letter, there’s 4,000 for the Building Commissioner. Mr. Whitten, Yes, that shouldn’t be like that. There shouldn’t be any raises in there. Mr. Poparad, The three people were 88,000. Mr. Kopp, Okay, you’re right. Mr. Whitten, Way to go, Bob. Mr. Kopp, I need to take 4,000 out, so it’s 678,248, but then you have to take FICA and stuff out of it too. Mr. Whitten, Alright, let’s just slow down for a second here. We want the new employees that we approved in there; no raises; no increases; we want to up the Boards--I’m looking for a number here; up the Boards the 13,200; and then up the lawyer line item another 5,000; and then throw in the FICA, the bennies. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, And that’s the number you’re giving us. Let’s take a five-minute break while they figure the numbers. At this time, there was a five-minute break. Meeting reconvened with all members present. Mr. Whitten, Do we have a big number? Mr. Kopp, I got 681,692. Mr. Whitten, How good do you feel about that? Mr. Kopp, I think it’s right because I subtracted and added the numbers he gave us. They’re trying to make it come out in each line item. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Carmichael, Motion to deny any increases. Mr. Carmichael moved to deny any increases in the Planning/Building Department 239 budget. Mr. Whitten, Did we already have a motion on the floor? Mrs. Stevenson, I was in the process of it. Mr. Kopp, I don’t think so, I thought you were waiting for a number. Mr. Whitten, Okay, so Bill made a motion to deny any increase to the budget. Mr. Burge seconded. Mr. Whitten, When you say no increase, are you taking out the new employees as well? Mr. Carmichael, That’s correct. Mrs. Stevenson, We’ve already approved them. Mr. Whitten, He understands that. Motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call. Motion failed on the following roll call vote:
Poparad - No Stevenson - No Mr. Kopp, Motion’s defeated, four to two. Mr. Whitten, Okay, can we get another motion? Mr. Poparad, Can we have conversation first? A little bit? Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Bob, can you sustain this number? I mean is housing falling off at all? Mr. Thompson, Yes, it is going down. There’s no doubt. Originally, when I did this estimation and everything like you all told me, it was based on the fact that, well, around 450 houses per year done, because I went back to the 90’s and that was about our average. What we’ve been doing, and the reason why we have the money in the budget and everything, is because we’re above 500 to 550 house per year for the past four years. This year… Mr. Whitten, What’s it going to be this year, you think? Mr. Thompson, We’ll probably be down to maybe 400 to 450. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Carmichael, What are you going to do when you no longer have money to support this budget, go to the general fund? Mr. Haller, Well, first of all, don’t look at just as houses. The housing number is down. When you have somebody, like a commercial project, I mean that’s worth ten houses to the budget. The number of permits all together are dead even. Mr. Whitten, Well I think the question that was proposed, not to interrupt, can you sustain this, and you kind of took a minute, and then; I’m not sure what your answer is. Mr. Thompson, I mean I believe we can, yes. Mr. Whitten, What would you do, responding to Bill’s question. Mr. Thompson, We have never yet come across and exceeded the budget line items. Mr. Carmichael, But suppose we can’t sustain it. Mr. Whitten, Well I guess he has to lay off. Bill, your motion would have laid three people off. Mr. Thompson, The Council told us when we went on this program, if the money doesn’t come in, and the housing goes down, then we have to do layoffs. Mr. Carmichael, My motion was to make a point with this. Mr. Whitten, Oh I understand. I’m just saying, if we’re going to, I mean that’s not out of the realm of possibility. Mr. Carmichael, I’m just being consistent.
Mr. Whitten, I understand, and laying people off is not consistent. Have we laid anybody off tonight? The other night? Have we sent anybody home? Mr. Poparad, Mr. Kopp, is this 681, does this count the three new employees? Mr. Kopp, That does count the three new employees, and the FICA, and the PERF. Mr. Poparad, It does not count the $4,000 raise for the… Mr. Kopp, It does not count the $4,000 raise. Mr. Poparad, Okay. I just, obviously me and Bob have talked for years on this, you know, living on your fees, and I take a different view than what Bill takes. But in terms of, you know, eventually, if the well runs dry, you’ve got to make the hard decisions. Mr. Thompson, Correct, we understand that. Mr. Haller, Well you won’t need a code enforcement officer. Mr. Poparad, Yes, but we won’t need three building inspectors either. Mr. Haller, That’s right. Mr. Poparad, So that will be a decision that you guys have to make, because as long as I’m sitting on this side of the table, don’t ever come back to me for money. I’ll make the motion it’s 681,692. Mr. Poparad move to approve the Planning/Building Department 239 budget, in the amount of $681,692. Mr. Kopp, Make it 677,692.
Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Poparad move to amend his motion, and approve the Planning/Building Department 239 budget, in the amount of $677,692. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Any further discussion? Mr. Carmichael, Yes, discussion. Mr. Whitten, Let’s go. Mr. Carmichael, You’re paying board members $100 a meeting? Mr. Poparad, Is that? Mr. Kopp, Yes, that’s all down. Mr. Carmichael, What are you going to do with the Health Board? What are you going to do with the other volunteer boards? Are you going to raise them 100%, from 50 to 100? Mr. Whitten, Are they general fund monies, all of them? Mr. Poparad, That’s a good point. Mr. Carmichael, You’ve got to be consistent. Mr. Whitten, Well I think Bill’s got a point. As we prioritize things, I’ve got to tell you, you know, Bill, you’ve got some budgets you’d like to see go up. This is one I want to see go up. I think planning and developing is essential to the future of this county, so this is a priority to me. But I see your point, maybe that is an increase that we take up in the end. Mr. Burge, Does this number include the increases or just the salaries for the three new folks? Mr. Thompson, This includes… Mr. Whitten, I mean this Board meets until the wee hours in the morning--Judas Priest. Mr. Carmichael, This one used to also. Mr. Bucko, The contractual arrangement for your attorney at 8,000? Is that the same attorney that’s for the BZA? Mr. Thompson, Correct. Mr. Bucko, So this person does three meetings per month. Mr. Thompson, Correct. Mr. Bucko, For even $2,000 less than our own attorney does, on an average of one meeting per month. I mean I’m just giving you, you know, numbers are numbers, that’s it. I just wanted to, I don’t have a problem with increasing somebody’s salary $5,000 when the meetings are three times longer, I don’t have a problem with that at all, or three times as many. Mr. Whitten, Okay, any further discussion? Let’s call the question. Motion incomplete on the following roll call vote:
Poparad - Yes Stevenson - Yes Mr. Bucko, I say everything, the only thing I have a problem with is the board meetings, that’s going to be an issue, a big issue, so I’ll say no.
Motion failed on the following roll call vote: Mr. Kopp, It’s tied, three to three. Mr. Whitten, Nice. Mr. Hollenbeck, Ties go to defeated motion. Mr. Poparad, Okay, I’ll make a motion that we increase their budget, but leave the Board Members at their present pay. Mr. Whitten, Give us the number. Mr. Kopp, Okay, we’ve got to take $13,200 out; that should be $664,492. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Planning/Building Department 239 budget, in the amount of $664,492, with the Board Members to remain at their present pay of $50 per meeting. Mr. Burge seconded. Mr. Whitten, Motion and a second. Discussion. Jim, you’re writing down our priorities, let’s put this down as one of our priorities. These meetings are going for God-awful long, and they’re doing one heck of a job. So that’s an area I’d like to see increased. Let’s have the vote, please. Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Stevenson - No Whitten - No Mr. Kopp, Motion carries, four to two. Mr. Thompson, Thank you very much. HIGHWAY 02 Mr. Whitten, Okay, we’ve got the Highway--Ventura Highway. Mr. Poparad, Based on his letter, 1110, 1120 come out? Mr. Whitten, I’m not sure. What are we doing with this budget? Mr. Carmichael, This is a 3% increase in the budget or the fund, Mechanic Foreman. Mr. Whitten, It looks like that’s what he’s doing. Mr. Carmichael, All the way across the board. Mr. Whitten, Looks like that’s what he’s asking for. Mr. Carmichael, Was that the Commissioners’ recommendation? Al Hoagland, We talked about it, yes, and one of the recommendations from the Commissioners is we have to increase the Engineer’s salary. Mr. Carmichael, Well I know you have to do that because that’s the reason Dave quit, more pay. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure? Mr. Poparad, Three new bodies. Mr. Hoagland, I put in for three new employees. Mr. Poparad, Can your fund sustain that, Al? Mr. Hoagland, My fund has actually increased this year in the MVH fund. Typically, we’ve always under funded ourselves, and we’ve always estimated our revenue short. We’ve never come before this Board and said we’re broke. We’ve always had the money. And the reason I’m submitting the budget this way this year is to give you an example, all the monies that I’ve been to you folks before this year for additionals to try and do our projects, we still haven’t got it appropriated. We’re still at square one, and we’re looking at September, and the money that we’ve asked for is not here. This year I’ve decided to cut back how much I keep in reserve, and ask for it upfront just in case we run into a situation again where we are this year. And believe me, I’ve juggled this thing every way I can go, and I’m trying to be honest with you to the point that the money is there, we know the money is there, and it’s frustrating to us that we can’t get it appropriated. Mr. Carmichael, We share the same frustration. Mr. Whitten, Yes we do. Mr. Hoagland, I’m sure you do, and I… Mr. Poparad, Is this the same number, is the 368,904 the same as last year or does that include the new, they’re not in here. But no raises, correct? Mr. Hoagland, I put a straight 3% across the board. If that has to be cut… Mr. Poparad, Is that in this number? Mr. Hoagland, Yes. Mr. Poparad, That I’m looking at? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, I think it is. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mrs. Stevenson, The first page showing the 3% salary increase. Mr. Whitten, We’ll deal with that later. Mr. Carmichael, What about the major moves money, Al, what’s up with that? Mr. Hoagland, The major moves money is now appropriated to us. We have 1.5 million dollars. We have plans for approximately half of that money to be spent yet this year. I could possibly spend a little more or spend a little less. I feel that since that fund is a two-year fund, before it be needs replenished, I think it’s only prudent that we sit on some of it. The reason being, the situation I’m running into this year, throughout the County, the various construction jobs, Route 6 has drastically changed our traffic. Mr. Carmichael, I was there, yes. Mr. Hoagland, Alright, now we’ve got Route 2 in Hebron shut down for two years. For an example, I’ve got a road down there, the average traffic count on that road before this project started was 99 cars a day. Last week that road ran 780 cars in a day. Mr. Carmichael, What’s the number on that road? Mr. Hoagland, It’s 700 South, Bowling Alley Road. And we’re going to be looking at a situation next year that… Mr. Carmichael, Got to repave it again. Mr. Hoagland, That the roads fingering off of these jobs aren’t going to take it another year. We’re going to be able to nurse them through, but as long as this construction keeps fluctuating from site to site. Mr. Carmichael, What are you going to spend this year? Mr. Hoagland, Two years ago we had the 49-Bypass… Mr. Carmichael, $750,000 this year or what are you going to spend? Mr. Hoagland, I’ve got plans laid out to spend about 750,000 of it this year. The money that we spent this year are projects that were short-term last year, and they’re tying in… Mr. Carmichael, Can you charge any wages against that?
Mr. Hoagland, No, sir. As I understand it that money is only material only. It can only be used, asphalt… Mr. Bucko, There’s a bunch of IC codes out there, and they seem to point towards… Mr. Poparad, Paving. Mr. Hoagland, Right, paving, that’s basically… Mr. Bucko, That’s right, just capital stuff. Mr. Poparad, Go pave something. Mr. Whitten, Can I get a motion of some sort here? Let’s move this along. Mr. Kopp, Can we get a clarification first? Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Kopp, In the request there’s $20,068, it says a 3% increase, and an increase in the engineer’s salary. If we take 336,600 at 3% that’s like 10,500. So what else is in there or what are we looking at? Mr. Hoagland, The engineer, we were budgeted last year at $60,437, and for 2008, I’d like to move it to $72,246 as a starting point. We may be below, we may be… Mr. Kopp, Okay, that’s the answer. Mr. Carmichael, That’s what the average engineer makes. Mr. Hoagland, And I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure that we are going to get PE at that price. Mr. Carmichael, You’re going to be close, but you may not make it. Engineer salaries are in the 80’s. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure? Let’s get a motion. Mr. Poparad, Well I don’t know, this includes, I thought we were going to address raises on our own, so I don’t know where the numbers are. Mr. Whitten, Why don’t you make some sort of motion, and we’ll have him figure out why your motion means dollars or otherwise. We’ll back into this. Mr. Poparad, Well, we give them, you know, the same wages as last year, there’s three new bodies, and we’ll address the raises later when we address everybody else. But I don’t know what that does, you know, we’re going to sit here and do math again. Mr. Whitten, Okay, give us… Mr. Poparad, I want that motion to include the engineer going to 72,246. That’s the only position that my motion includes a raise for. Mr. Poparad moved to grant three new Driver/Laborer positions, and increase the Engineer’s salary to $72,246 in the Highway 02 budget. Mr. Whitten, Okay, there’s a motion on the floor to give an increase to the Engineer to $72,246, the three new bodies he’s asking, and no other increases. Correct? Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second? Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Whitten, Any discussion? Mr. Bucko, I would like to just ask, on the engineer, you came up with $72,000. Did that money, that’s what the guy left for or did that figure come from a market analysis of engineers in Northwest Indiana or Indiana general area? Mr. Hoagland, What I did was, I went through LTAP, the Local Technical Assistance Program through Purdue, and we came up with, this would be the minimum. Mr. Bucko, Okay. Mr. Hoagland, That we’re… Mr. Bucko, That’s your, let’s say 25 percentile on the low end, your 50 and 75. Okay. Mr. Burge, Al, just for the record, the three new positions, just outlining what they do. Mr. Hoagland, The three new position I’m asking for are Truck Driver/Laborers. Now the reason I’m asking, if you’re looking for hard numbers, I mean if you’re looking for, you come out to my garage and watch… Mr. Whitten, Do we have a number, Jim? Mr. Hoagland, I’ve got 39 guys… Mr. Kopp, Is it 72,000 or 72,246? Mr. Hoagland, That are capable of plowing snow during… Mr. Whitten, Well the motion contemplates 72,000. Mr. Poparad, No, 72,246. Mr. Whitten, I’m sorry. Mr. Hoagland, If I’m missing three guys sick, I’m taking three of my foremen and they’re going in trucks. We do not have… Mr. Carmichael, Does the State still pay 50% of the engineer’s wages? Mr. Hoagland, The State only pays $20,000. Mr. Carmichael, $20,000 now. Mr. Hoagland, It’s 20,000 and they have to be a licensed PE. If you’re looking for money, just so you know, like this year we’ve made almost $50,000 from our snow events, getting reimbursed with disasters that are declared. Our permit fees, we’re pretty frugal. Mr. Whitten, Do we have an idea? Mr. Kopp, Is FICA supposed to be in this or not? It’s not in there in their budget. Do the Commissioners pay for it? Mr. Hoagland, I’m sorry, what? Mr. Whitten, Does FICA come out of this? Mr. Hoagland, We pay all our own. FICA is in there. Ms. Minton, It’s under the second one, it’s under General & Undistributed. Mr. Hoagland, General & Undistributed. Mr. Whitten, Okay, just give us a rough number. Mr. Kopp, Okay, we’ve got 13-171 plus 3-689-40. How about 382,111? Ms. Minton, What about the three new employees though? Mr. Whitten, Does that include the three new employees? Ms. Minton, At what salary for the three new employees, Al? Mr. Hoagland, Pardon me? Ms. Minton, What hourly rate for the three new employees? Mr. Hoagland, That would be at 16.51. David James, No, 16.53. Mr. Hoagland, $16,53. Ms. Minton, For all three? Mr. Hoagland, After probation. Mr. Bucko, There’s no FICA and PERF in here. Mr. Hoagland, It’s in General & Undistributed. Mr. Whitten, We’re going to have finalize the exact number, especially when we get raises in there. Just give us a general idea, the motion speaks for itself. Alright, the motion contemplates the increases. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, And we have a second to that. You can get us the final number when we.. Mr. Kopp, Are we adding the 3% increase? Mr. Whitten, No. Mr. Kopp, Just for the engineer. Mr. Poparad, Right, just the engineer. Mr. Kopp, Alright. And what are the three new employees going in at? Mr. Poparad, 133,100. Mr. Kopp, That can’t be right. Does that include insurance, PERF and everything else? Mr. Hoagland, Yes, I have the number of, total Insurance, PERF, FICA, the whole business, 103,147. Mr. Whitten, We don’t have to be exact on that. I’m more interested when we get to the general fund budgets so we can keep track of how much taxpayer money is being spent. Mr. Kopp, Alright, so then we could probably get a pretty good number. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Anymore, Bob? Mr. Poparad, In referencing the gas cards. Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Our intent was, these guys were also to switch over. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Poparad, And you already have a little issue out there now you’re dealing with? Mr. Hoagland, Yes we are. Mr. Poparad, Are you going to condemn it and pull it or do something with it? Mr. Hoagland, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Because I think our thoughts were at the end of September or something, in conjunction with the Auditor to get something going. That, I think that’s what this Board felt like with the Sheriff, that we’re headed in the same direction. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Kopp, I’ve got 483,650… Mr. Whitten, You may be a little off, when we get to raises and stuff, we’re going to have to get some exact numbers from you. But at this point, I mean we could be here all night trying to get to the penny. I don’t want to do that. So what’s… Mr. Kopp, $483,650 is pretty close. Mr. Whitten, Close, alright. I mean this isn’t a general fund budget.
Mr. Bucko, I guess if it doesn’t come in you don’t get to spend it. Motion incomplete on the following roll call vote:
Whitten - No Bucko - Yes Mr. Carmichael, Clarify the motion for me. What are you leaving in there? Mr. Poparad, Just three new bodies. Mr. Whitten, Three new bodies, and increasing the Engineer. Motion failed on the following roll call vote:
Whitten - No Bucko - Yes Mr. Kopp, It’s tied. Mr. Whitten, Okay, back to the drawing board. Mr. Bucko, What’s wrong with it on the no side. What do we have to do? Mr. Whitten, I’m trying to stay consistent here. Mr. Carmichael, The figures will have to change anyway. They’re going to change the next meeting. Mr. Bucko, So staying consistent means no salary raise for the Engineer or no three new employees? That’s the only… Mr. Whitten, Well we’ve increased an employee with the Coroner; the Plan Commission we gave three. This isn’t a general fund budget. I don’t particularly have a problem with that, I just think we need to be consistent here. Everybody has come and said, we’ve got to give increases here and there. We’re not going to keep personal and build a spot. I mean that seems to be everything. Every budget we look at it’s been that way. Mr. Bucko, I would move that we do not include the three new employees, just the engineer. Mr. Bucko moved to approve the Highway 02 budget without the new employees, and grant the increase for the Engineer’s salary. Mr. Whitten, That’s just the exact opposite of what I just said. Okay, that’s your motion? Mr. Bucko, Yes. Mrs. Stevenson, Could you clarify it? Mr. Whitten, No three, he’s going to increase… Mr. Bucko, No three truck drivers, and the increase wages for the engineer. Mr. Whitten, So you’re saying to increase the engineer or not? Mr. Bucko, Increase the engineer, put in there at that rate. Mr. Whitten, Okay, I see what you are saying. Mr. Bucko, We’ve already got a proven fact that we lost one. We’ve done the paperwork that says somebody with the qualifications have earned that should be picked. Mr. Carmichael, I’ll tell you what you do, Al. The first snowstorm, call up each one of these individuals and let them ride a snow plow for a while. I used to ride them all the time. Mr. Hoagland, I remember. I remember talking to you. Mr. Whitten, You think increasing the engineer’s salary is going to get our snow cleaned. Mr. Carmichael, That’ll do it. Mr. Whitten, You think the engineer’s salary is going to clean our snow. Mr. Carmichael, I don’t know about the engineer’s salary. Mr. Whitten, That’s what I have a problem with. I’m for the employees. Mr. Carmichael, I’m talking about the three employees. Mr. Whitten, Bring the snow plow when you come to show me; plow my street when you’re coming through. I like the way he thinks. Mr. Poparad, The motion died? Mr. Bucko, Yes, I guess so. Motion died for the lack of a second. Mr. Bucko, Go ahead. Mr. Poparad, Can I make a motion? Mr. Whitten, Please. Mr. Poparad, Grant him the three new employees, flatline the engineer’s salary until he gets applicants, then have him come back to us to see what the market will bear. Mr. Poparad moved to flatline the Engineer’s salary until applications are received, and grant three Truck Driver/Laborer positions, in the Highway 02- budget. Mr. Poparad, Putting a salary out there, we don’t even know if it’s low. We could be $10,000 off at 72,000. We could be $10,000 off… Mr. Carmichael, He has to advertise for an engineer, and he has to advertise the salary. Mr. Poparad, Does he have to advertise the salary? Mr. Carmichael, Yes. Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s going to be one of the first questions I’m going to ask to be an applicant for the job, at least a range. Mr. Hoagland, Right now everything I put out is, salary commensurate, and we’ve not had any. Right now, in the State of Indiana, there’s at least six other counties in the same boat we’re in. They’re all being snapped up by INDOT. Mr. Carmichael, That’s why Ken Traylor left. That’s why Dave left. We have never paid the engineer. Mr. Poparad, And the State only reimburses, what, 20,000. Mr. Hoagland, $20,000. Mr. Poparad, Now, in reference to his fund, I’ll give you the gasoline side of it. In the industry there’s a big movement afoot--Vicki, this isn’t real press stuff--with the bridge collapse in Minnesota, they’re talking about raising the gas tax. Mr. Whitten, She’s not the only reporter here. Mr. Poparad, Well I know, that’s the only one I can see. This is all a rumor floating around with everybody raising the gas tax to fund the infrastructure in this county, i.e., he would get more road money, that sort of thing. That’s just a rumor. There’s been a lot of talk about that at the state and federal level. Mr. Whitten, Okay, did you make a motion? Was that a motion, Mike? Mr. Bucko, He made a motion. Mr. Poparad, I made a motion to give him the three new truck drivers, flatline the engineer to see what the market dictates. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second to that motion? Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Poparad, I’ve got to go with Bill on this, I’d rather have three truck drivers. Mr. Whitten, Roll call. Mr. Kopp, We’ll give you the amount later. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Kopp, Motion carries, six to zero. HIGHWAY CUM-BRIDGE 25 Mr. Whitten, Highway Cum-Bridge. Mr. Hoagland, It stays the same. Mr. Whitten, Stays the same. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Highway Cum-Bridge 25 budget, in the amount of $355,000. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. HIGHWAY LRS 26 Mr. Whitten, Highway LRS. Mr. Poparad, Same as last year’s, Al? Mr. Hoagland, No, I cut it by 25,000. Mr. Whitten, I like the way you think, Al. Mr. Poparad, Well, can I ask a question? Mr. Hoagland, Yes, sir. Mr. Poparad, Can you, could we pay the, let’s say we end up with an engineer, can part of his salary come out of this? Mr. Hoagland, I don’t believe so. I think that’s a dedicated fund… Mr. Poparad, Material only? Mr. Hoagland, For material only. I’m 99.9% sure. If I’m not speaking out of turn, I’ve pushed things enough that whatever you decide on the salary for the engineer, I’ll be able to cover it. Mr. Whitten, Alright. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Highway LRS 26 budget, in the amount of $1,045,000. Mr. Whitten, That’s a big motion. Is there a second? Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Kopp, Motion carries unanimously. Mr. Bucko, Al, I would like to see, I’d appreciate on the major moves, will we see a list of the projects so we know what the plan is. Can we do that? Mr. Whitten, Memorial Opera House. Mr. Hoagland, Would you like to see a visual? Mr. Bucko, Pardon me? Mr. Hoagland, Would you like to see a visual? We’ve got a map. Mr. Bucko, I don’t, you know, where you’re figuring 750,000, they come to me, what the world is it for, we just give it to you. Mr. Carmichael, It’s out of your district. Mr. Bucko, That’s fine, I’d appreciate that, how about 350. Mr. Hoagland, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thanks, Al. Mr. Bucko, When you get it put together. Thank you. MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE 158 Mr. Whitten, Memorial Opera House. Brian Schafer, Good evening. Mr. Whitten, Good evening, how are you? Mr. Schafer, Great. Mr. Poparad, Did you get your roof fixed? Mr. Schafer, We’re on the way. Mr. Whitten, You’re requesting some increases. Mr. Schafer, Yes. Mr. Whitten, What’s your thoughts on this budget? Mr. Poparad, You’re surviving on, you’re still in the general fund a little bit, aren’t you? Mr. Schafer, What’s that? Mr. Poparad, You’re not making it on all your own revenue, are you? Mr. Schafer, Yes. Mr. Poparad, You are? Mr. Schafer, Yes, we’re not pulling off of the general fund. Mr. Poparad, You’ve got it covered now. Mr. Schafer, Yes. The biggest increase in what I’m asking for tonight is actually in the Director/Choreographer line, and that’s because of the elimination of the staff last year, so we’re just increasing to cover those costs. Mr. Whitten, The show must go on. Mr. Poparad, Dancing with the stars, I’ll make the motion. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Memorial Opera House 158 budget, in the amount of $284,645. Mr. Whitten, That motion contemplates in the increases? Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, With the increases, none of this, you’ll still not pull anything from the general fund? Mr. Schafer, Correct. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second? Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Poparad, I think we ought to applaud them for getting out of the general fund. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Roll call, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Kopp, What was the dollars you guys approved, 245,845? Mr. Whitten, No, I think it’s more than that. Mr. Schafer, That was last year’s. Mr. Kopp, What was it with the increases? Mr. Schafer, $284,645. Mr. Bucko, Is that FICA, PERF and everything? Mr. Schafer, Yes, there’s no increases in that amount. I’m not doing anything with the employees. Mr. Poparad, Do you have a surplus? Are you gaining? Mr. Schafer, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Good job. Mr. Schafer, Thank you.
EXPO CENTER 146.66
John Thorstad, Good. Mr. Thorstad, So, so. Mr. Carmichael, Didn’t we give you some additionals this past year? Mr. Thorstad, I’m sorry? Mr. Carmichael, Did we give you some additionals this year? Mr. Thorstad, Yes, the only increase that I’m looking at is $2,000 for gasoline. Mr. Carmichael, No, last year… Mr. Whitten, Did you come in for more gas money? Mr. Carmichael, Your figures was 520,293. Mr. Thorstad, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, And the actual budget estimate was? Mr. Whitten, Looks like it’s gone up a couple grand. Mr. Carmichael, Okay. Mr. Thorstad, It came up $2,000. That’s the increase for the gasoline. Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the Expo Center 146.66 budget, in the amount of $522,294. Mr. Poparad seconded. Mr. Poparad, You’re living on all your revenues, right? Mr. Thorstad, Right. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Roll call. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Thorstad, Can I have one other point for when you contemplate the raises. Last year we forgo the raises, so I mean it’s, it’s very significant for us this year, I contemplate we’d have the money to cover it, at least for our assistant and the maintenance manager. If there’s a shortfall there, you know, I would forgo the raise so that they should be able to have it. Okay? Mr. Whitten, Okay, thanks. Have a good evening. CONVENTION, RECREATION & VISITORS COMMISSION 93 Mr. Whitten, Convention Center. Okay, we’ve got the Convention Center, what’s your pleasure? We’ve got some increases in here, right? Salaries. Mr. Carmichael, What are we looking at for all county employees’ increase? Are we looking at 500 or 1,000 or 1,500? Mr. Whitten, I don’t know. Mr. Carmichael, These are coming in at what, 1,500, approximately. One is 35. Mr. Whitten, Yes, they’re coming in a bit higher. Mr. Kopp, They’re 66, 51… Mr. Carmichael, Pretty hefty. Mr. Kopp, And 32 and 35. Mr. Whitten, There’s 77… Mr. Carmichael, Is that what it is, I can’t read it. Mr. Kopp, It’s 66-77, 51-22, 32-55, and 35-61. Mr. Whitten, What is your pleasure with this budget? You got a little Building Maintenance going up, huh? Lorelei Weimer, Yes, we’re still, historically, we still have not been in the building for a full year, so when the budget is actually due, we were still at the peak of our season, so we don’t really still have a handle on the janitorial stuff and so forth. So we’re still trying to gather that historical prospective. Mr. Whitten, Sure. Mr. Carmichael, Where is the money from the National Lakeshore showing up? Ms. Weimer, How the money with the National Lakeshore works is, it’s our budget since we own the building, everything 100% is paid out of our budget, they then reimburse us 50% for the operational costs, then they’re actually paying the lease payment on 50% of the building that they’re leasing. So the breakdown on that is they’re going to be paying per year around $55,000, and that includes $16,837 as base rent. Keep in mind, they’re not paying the 100% of what the going rate per square footage is because we received 80% of the funding for the Visitors Center from the federal, from federal monies. So we take the base rate, they’re paying 20% of the average square footage rate for rent, then they’re paying long-term replacement costs of almost $5,000 a year, and then the operational cost, we’ve calculated at about $35,000 a year. So they just pay us that on an annual basis, and we’re going to break it out monthly. Then that goes into, our budget has already accounted for those expenses. Mr. Carmichael, And that’s reflected here? Ms. Weimer, Yes, it is reflected. Mr. Poparad, The numbers are inside these numbers? Ms. Weimer, Yes, that is correct. Mr. Poparad, How’s your revenue running for the year? Ms. Weimer, Revenue is up 15%. So when you look at all the numbers with the National Parks’ contribution, and the increase in the innkeepers’ tax, we are right on target in terms of the budget. Mr. Carmichael, I don’t know, but I think we have to look at these employees’ raises at the same time you look at the general fund employees across the county. Michael Scott, One thing so you know. We are a different industry than the county employees are. What we try to do is do a comparison of the employees for the Commission with different positions within the County; there’s no comparison. The industry dictates a certain level for each position. We’re actually on the low end with these proposed salaries. It’s a matter, we’re turning positions over. We just had to hire two new people recently. It’s like hiring an attorney or an engineer, if you aren’t at the industry standard you aren’t going to keep them for very long, and that’s what’s happened. Mr. Carmichael, Aren’t the last two we hired Porter County residents? Mr. Scott, They are Porter County residents. Mr. Carmichael, They’re living here; they don’t have to move here? Mr. Scott, No. One’s from Portage, I don’t know where the other one is from. Ms. Weimer, Well, and one of the issues I think with the Director of Finance & Administration, she’s actually classified as an administrative assistant in the County’s book, so she’s tapped out at this salary, but she’s actually the head of all of our finances, the head of the entire operations of the Visitors Center. She has a masters degree, and we got her from Purdue where she was teaching financial classes. So that one, definitely, I think is not appropriately, you know, classified within our organization. And then definitely, the Marketing Director has been with us for seven years, and oversees our entire marketing and promotional budget. So, like I said, it’s hard when you’ve got Bureaus to the east and west of me that are paid a lot higher, and we’ve had wars go on with employees going back and forth, so it’s, and we usually lose our employees to the private sector. Mr. Bucko, Which one did you lose? You just lost Ann? Ms. Weimer, We lost Anna, and we lost Kate. Mr. Bucko, You lost those two? Ms. Weimer, And what we’ve ended up doing is, we’re hiring right out of college, and then they get their feet wet and they head on out. Mr. Bucko, Sure. Were those two just out of school also? Ms. Weimer, Yes, and our new ones are… Mr. Bucko, It’s a typical thing where you become the training center for them, period. Mr. Whitten, Can I get a motion? Mr. Carmichael, We’ve got that all over the place. Mrs. Stevenson, I’ll make a motion to leave it at last year’s figures for the 144 at $194,964. Mrs. Stevenson moved to approve the 144 Form for Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission 93, Salaries in the amount of $194,964. Mr. Whitten, So you’re just dealing with the 144? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Poparad, What did she do? Mr. Whitten, She just flatlined the 144; there’s a motion, is there a second? I’ll second it. Mr. Whitten seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Roll call. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Kopp, Six, zero. Mr. Bucko, Change my vote to no, please. Motion carried on a 5-1 vote, with Mr. Bucko voting no. Mr. Whitten, Okay, we’re leaving that number the same, 194,364. What about the rest of the budget? Mr. Poparad, What’s the big number at the bottom? Mr. Carmichael, I think those increases are part of the operation of running the operation, and should be allowed. Mr. Poparad, Yes, I agree. Mr. Whitten, And I think we’ll come back and revisit the salaries when we do the salaries. So that’s my note on it. Mr. Kopp, I’ve got 1,010,240. Mr. Whitten, A million-ten? Mr. Kopp, That can’t be exact. No, it’s not exactly right. We’ve got to get FICA out of that yet, and PERF, so it’s going to come down another 15% on $18,000. So a couple thousand dollars. It’s about a million-eight. Mr. Whitten, Okay, is there a motion to approve this budget with the other increases, and the 144 staying the same? Mrs. Stevenson moved to approve the Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission 93 budget, in the amount of $1,800,000. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second? Yes? Mr. Hollenbeck, In fairness in terms of the spirit, as I understood the 144, line item 3951 Contractual Attorney, there was an increase proposed. I think that’s probably analogous to whatever decision you made on salaries, so you may want to cut that back to this year’s level. Mrs. Stevenson, What number, Dave? Mr. Hollenbeck, 3951 Contractual Attorney, there was an increase proposed, and if you’re not going to give salary increases, then I think the analogy is that you should revert that contractual attorney to… Mr. Whitten, So it’s like 190-bucks. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, I’m trying to be consistent with what you’ve decided. Mr. Whitten, Okay, does the motion agree with that? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, So all the increases except the 100-some dollar increase to the attorney, and the 144 staying the same. That’s the motion, correct? Mrs. Stevenson, Correct. Mrs. Stevenson amended her motion to decrease line 3951 from $10,980 to $10,786. Mr. Whitten, And how about the second? Who seconded that anyway? Mrs. Stevenson, You. Mr. Whitten, I did? You did. No, I seconded, the 144. Mr. Carmichael, I will second it. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Roll call. Mr. Kopp, Is Contractual Services staying 1,890? Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Kopp, Okay.
Bucko - Yes Burge - No Mr. Kopp, Motion carries five to one. Ms. Weimer, Thank you. AIRPORT Mr. Whitten, Airport. Attorney Paul Chael, Good evening. Mr. Carmichael, Kyle, what does it cost to take off and land at the Porter County Airport? Kyle Kuebler, We do not charge a landing fee at our airport, but we do recoup costs through fuel sales and aviation services. Mr. Carmichael, Why don’t you charge landing fees? Mr. Kuebler, Landing fees are usually used at airports that are trying to discourage operations, and in our… Mr. Carmichael, Discourage? Mr. Kuebler, Yes. They’re often used in areas where the capacity is such that they are trying to discourage certain operations. Our fee stream from the operations of the airport are really selling them fuel, which in a competitive market is something that we… Mr. Carmichael, I know about that. Mr. Chael, And we do have a four-night tie down fees, if there’s other services other than just landing. So there is a schedule of service fees like that. Mr. Kuebler, Most general aviation airports do not charge landing fees. Normally, you would find landing fees at commercial service airports, really for the reason I described for capacity issues. Mr. Whitten, You’re looking for some increases, or at least new positions it looks like.
Mr. Chael, We’re contemplating kind of a restructuring. We’ve reached the size where we really need to take a look at our whole structure. We’re anticipating, most of the increase in our budget is going to be funded by, virtually all of it by our self-generated revenue of fuel sales, fees that Mr. Carmichael was asking about. Not landing fees, but other types of fees, land, ramp, fuel, that sort of thing is the majority of our money. And we’ve been working with that existing levy structure since the airport tax levy. It’s not out of the general fund. Mr. Whitten, So this is really just a complete sort of restructuring of… Mr. Chael, The whole management structure, it was kind of obsolete. It was started, we were following really what we had when we had a Board of Aviation Commissioners that was started in 1949, and in 1991 we went to the Airport Authority, operated under the airport authority act. Most airports our size, if you look at our capacity, we have the highest number of based airplanes in the state, the fifth highest number of operation, that includes, you know, all the airports that have commercial operations. We’re a busy airport, and we really needed to restructure that and look at increasing hours. We’ve got fire fighting capability now. We’ve got some grants; the one truck we bought used, and one we have a grant for, so it’s just become a totally different operation. Mr. Carmichael, Do you still have the snow blower? Mr. Kuebler, We’ve been able to acquire used equipment from some of the entitled airports. We actually have two brooms, two blowers, and three plows. Mr. Carmichael, Wow, Laughery would roll over in his grave. Mr. Kuebler, Yes, we’ve lost the World War II vintage equipment that was 1949 to 1950 vintage about 1995 when we bought our first, I’ll call it, depreciated equipment from the entitled airports, but they’re half, they’re mid-time diesels, and they do very well for our facility. Mr. Carmichael, We don’t use them on county roads because they throw rocks. Mr. Kuebler, Yes. Mr. Chael, You know, one part of Bob’s legacy that survives though, is we do have some good mechanics that are able to keep used equipment going. We’ve acquired most of the stuff used, and they’ve done some rebuilding and fixing, done a great job with it, so. Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the budget for the Airport as submitted, in the amount of $1,058,200. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Poparad, We’re hiring two new people? Mr. Chael, And eliminating one position. It’s part of the restructuring. Mr. Poparad, Who becomes the Airport Director? Mr. Chael, Well, we’re anticipating that that’s going to be the top job. Presently, Kyle is the manager, and I think it’s probably anticipated that… Mr. Poparad, I’m not adverse to Kyle becoming the… Mr. Chael, Yes, no, no, I think that’s… Mr. Poparad, Airport Director. I don’t know if I’m going to sit here and vote for Kyle to get the $21,000 raise because his title changed. Mr. Chael, One thing I would mention is, as we started down this process we did a survey of airports, primarily in Indiana, we might have one in Illinois, but… Mr. Poparad, I’m a little adverse to Kyle getting a $21,000 because his title changed, and you guys, you have… Mr. Chael, Well it’s… Mr. Poparad, You have self-generating revenue, but you also get tax dollars. And I’m not adverse to a raise for Kyle--because I love him dearly, but… Mr. Whitten, I can tell, hehehehe. Mr. Poparad, Well I’m just saying, just because his title changed from Airport Manager to Airport Director, why does he get a $21,000 raise? That’s all I’m asking. They think so, because they put him in for it, and somebody made a motion to approve it and seconded it. Mr. Bucko, That’s right, I mean I’m a little bit aware of, more aware of, maybe than many are of the increased economic development opportunities because of that airport. The organizations that have come to the airport in relationship to the Valparaiso Economic… Mr. Poparad, Oh, absolutely. The value of the airport, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I’m not adverse to Kyle getting a raise. I’m adverse to Kyle getting a $21,000, that is almost a 50% raise. That’s all I’m saying. Mr. Kuebler, Looking at it from a positioning standpoint, the survey we went through just to, you know, consistent with what we’ve heard here this evening, we surveyed seven airports within Indiana, and used three surveys, took the averages from all those, and then the average of that, those averages to come up with that figure. So I understand, you know, the statement, but that’s what the surveys show as far as the commensurate salary for that position. Mr. Carmichael, Do we have a restaurant out there yet? Mr. Kuebler, No. We, that was… Mr. Carmichael, That’s an attraction for the… Mr. Kuebler, That was a thought that we had with our terminal building that we had probably seven different restaurateurs look at before we built it. And really, I think what was determined was there was saturation in the draw that you had to have locally to keep an airport restaurant operational was like 70 to 75% off the road. And we have that area yet to develop, and it’s probably going to be used in aviation uses such as corporate offices for our corporate clients, and also aviation offices. Mr. Whitten, What were you thinking; what does this number have to be to make you… Mr. Poparad, Which position are you eliminating then? Mr. Whitten, The Manager. Mr. Poparad, The Manager? Mr. Kuebler, Yes. And you have the… Mr. Poparad, I mean we, you know, out in the real world they just change the title and say, hey, go for it. You know, you don’t get no pay you just get a different title, so. I’m just saying, I’m not adverse to him getting a raise. We’re hiring a Deputy Director because they have the money. If they didn’t have the money, they wouldn’t be hiring him. Mr. Chael, Well I would say that we are hiring because the nature of the job that Kyle is doing has changed. It’s become a lot different, and therefore, we need somebody that’s more of the day-to-day management of the personnel and things. Kyle is doing more things with grants and other community involvement working on airport development. It’s just, the whole job has changed, and that’s why we looked at it and said we need a different structure that’s more consistent with what the rest of the industry is in the State of Indiana. Mr. Whitten, Is any of this general fund or is it all… Mr. Kuebler, No general fund.
Mr. Poparad, Tax rate. Mr. Kuebler, It’s… Mr. Chael, Probably 05, I think. Mr. Kuebler, Our total tax rate, which includes operation cum-fund last year was .007. So seven-tenths of one cent per 100 assessed valuation. It’s normally between three and .4%, .3 or .4 of 1% of the total tax rate of the municipal entities. Mr. Whitten, Well I guess my question stills stands to you, Bob. What were you thinking in terms of… Mr. Poparad, Well I… Mr. Whitten, Have you gotten that far with it? Mr. Poparad, No, there was a motion and a second. We’re still in discussion. Mr. Bucko, I have no problem with it. Mr. Whitten, Alright, how about a roll call.
Burge - Yes Carmichael - Yes Mr. Kopp, Motion carries, four to two. AIRPORT CUM-BUILDING Mr. Whitten, Airport Cum-Building. Mr. Kuebler, That budget is as proposed from last year. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure with this budget? Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the Airport Cum-Building budget, in the amount of $285,000. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Carmichael - Yes Poparad - Yes Mr. Kopp, Motion carries five to one. Mr. Chael, Thank you very much. COUNCIL 01.25 Mr. Whitten, Council. Mr. Poparad, Leave it the same as this year. Mr. Whitten, Is that a motion? Mr. Poparad, No raise. Mr. Whitten, Is that a motion? Mr. Poparad, Yes. Is this last year’s numbers, this year’s number, what number is this? Ms. Noll, It’s last year’s number. The stuff I’m asking for is on a… Mr. Poparad, No. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the budget for Council 01.25, in the amount of $154,677. Mr. Whitten, Is there a second? I’ll second it. Mr. Whitten seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Roll call. Motion incomplete on the following roll call vote: Poparad - Yes Stevenson - Mrs. Stevenson, Hold on a minute. At this time, Mr. Poparad left the meeting. Mrs. Stevenson, Look at some of these increases. Mr. Whitten, Yes. His motion was on the overall budget, right? Who’s voted so far? Mr. Kopp, Mr. Poparad. Motion failed on the following roll call vote:
Poparad - Yes Stevenson - No Mr. Whitten, Alright, Rita, give us a new number. Mrs. Stevenson, We need to have included in it, I mean for the 144, yes, I agree, no salary increase. But as far as the Hourly, we are going to need to increase that. Mr. Bucko, To 1,680? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes, 1,680 from zero. For the Office Supplies 2110… Mr. Carmichael, $300? Mrs. Stevenson, Yep. Legal. I want to make a motion. Mr. Carmichael, We have a lot of hospital costs in here. Mrs. Stevenson, Yes, exactly. Mr. Bucko, No, there shouldn’t be. Mr. Carmichael, Yes, oh no, that’s right. That came out of… Mr. Bucko, So 26,000 for 2006 does not got hospital work in it? Mr. Hollenbeck, No, that money was paid out of the proceeds. Mr. Carmichael, What do you want, appropriate the average? Mr. Bucko, I don’t know. Mr. Whitten, Well she’s making a motion. Mr. Carmichael, The 26,000 is last year’s… Ms. Noll, All I’m asking for is a $6,000 increase. Mr. Carmichael, Oh, okay. Mr. Bucko, That’s kind of an average. Mr. Hollenbeck, And if I understand, that’s an appropriation, it doesn’t mean you’re going to spend that. Mr. Bucko, That’s true. Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s not a salary. Mr. Bucko, But you know how those attorneys are, if you put that number in there… Mr. Whitten, They go after it. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well no, I don’t think that’s fair if you look at my history here. Mrs. Stevenson, So 3110 for the Legal, we’re putting in an extra 6,000. For 3120 Consultants, we’re putting in an extra 1,000. So that will go up to 3,000. Then for 3951… Mr. Carmichael, We can take care of that when he presents a new contract in January. Okay? Do you want to eliminate that, and do that in January? Mr. Hollenbeck, Bill, I usually present you a contract with the amount you approve in the budget. Mr. Carmichael, Oh, do you? Mrs. Stevenson, Okay, I want to keep it at last year’s amount, which is 10,000. And I think that’s it. Mr. Burge, Rita, could you recap those first couple of changes. Mrs. Stevenson, We’re increasing 1120 to 1,680. We’re including for Office Supplies 2110, 300. For 3110 Legal, an extra 6,000. 3120 Consultants, an extra 1,000. Then for 3951 we’re leaving it at 10,000. Mr. Whitten, That’s your motion? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mrs. Stevenson moved to approve the following increases in the Council 01.25 budget: Hourly 1120 to $1,680; Office Supplies to $1,500; Legal 3110 to $26,000; and Consultants 3120 to $3,000. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
AUDITOR 01.20 Mr. Whitten, Auditor. What’s your pleasure with the Auditor’s budget? Mr. Kopp, I’d like to make the part-time up to $15 an hour like you’ve done for the others. Mr. Whitten, But keep the money the same. Mr. Kopp, Yes. We probably ought to go through the… Mr. Whitten, Yes, put a big z around third, he’s going to steal home. Mr. Bucko, Yeah, yeah. Mr. Whitten, Let’s take five. At this time, there was a five-minute break. Meeting reconvened with Mr. Poparad and Mr. Burge absent. Mr. Whitten, Where are our prodigal councilmen. Mr. Carmichael, One, two… Mr. Hollenbeck, You’ve got four. Mr. Whitten, I’ve got enough, let’s go. What have you got for us, Jim? Mr. Kopp, I’ve got a letter here requesting some extra funding. Training & Education is one, which we’re going to need to interface the RDS system with the Hamer system and the GIS system if we get it so that we can get the CAR report, and some other stuff out of the computer. So that goes from 5,000 to 9,000. Maintenance Agreements includes the Hamer for the Auditor/Treasurer and the GIS. I’ve asked the Commissioners to consider putting that in their budget, but at this point I haven’t heard from them. There is some precedent for it going into the commissioners’ budget. Consultants, there was nothing in my budget. I have spent about $20,000 so far this year, and I’ve got some more bills coming for that money. We are going to get a $903,000 excess levy, and we’ve put about a million-two back into the general fund that was in various places. At this time, Mr. Burge and Mr. Poparad returned to the meeting. Mr. Kopp, Office Supplies, I’d like to change that $9,600 because I think that the CEDIT funds are going to take care of the chairs in our office. The chairs in our office have the steel coming out, and some people have cut their legs and other things--they need some fixin’ badly. But I do have to start purchasing checks that IT is no longer going to pay for. They are going to be about $1,600 per year, I understand. If we get the GIS system going we’re going to need extra office and paper supplies, especially big rolls of paper. The plotter that we are using is dying. So the last two items can kind of be put together. We either have got to increase the maintenance on it or look at lease purchasing a new one which will be about $500 a month. The part-time people I’ve got covered if we can go to $15 an hour, max. Mr. Bucko, That lease purchase on the plotter, is that something that can come out of the capital needs, from the commissioners’. Mr. Kopp, It might be able to come out of the capital from the commissioners. Mr. Bucko, Bob told me again that they did put $300,000 in capital needs out of the CCD, out of the CEDIT fund. Okay? You don’t think so? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well that’s…
Mr. Kopp, I’d like you to consider another person on the accounting side. We are continually inundated with reports that the State wants. I got one recently from the Treasurer dealing with excise taxes, and the E-911 taxes that we collect, and other things. I get three or four requests for reports a month. Mr. Poparad, That soil assessment, is that a duty of the Assessor’s Office? Mr. Kopp, Yes, I have a letter from December 21st that says on January 1st, 2007, mapping the soil for the township assessor will be going back to the County Auditor’s Office. This will no longer be a function of the county assessor. It’s from John Scott and Shirley LaFever. Mr. Whitten, Are we going to be reducing the Assessor’s budget to accommodate that? Mr. Poparad, I’m in gray waters here. Who’s statutory job is it? Mr. Kopp, It’s an assessment function. Mr. Poparad, Then why? Why, I guess, and, Jim, I’m looking at you. How can the Assessor say I don’t want to do it anymore, here give it to the Auditor? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well at first blush one would have to say that’s a good question. It’s the first time I heard… Mr. Kopp, It’s been done by the mapping for sometime, but paid for by the Assessor from what I understand, and maybe someone who has been here longer can detail it more specifically. Mr. Hollenbeck, It certainly had been done in mapping, I don’t remember, I have no recollection as to who was paying for it. But I know… Mr. Poparad, Well I… Mr. Kopp, Beverly used to do it in the Assessor’s Office. Jackie Green, Reassessment used to pay for the soil mapping, because that is why the soil map, the mapping department was created originally, and it was done… Mr. Hollenbeck, For reassessment. Ms. Green, And it was done… Mr. Poparad, Let the record reflect that Jackie is talking. Ms. Green, All out of reassessment. But a few years ago the Assessor no longer wanted to pay for that. Mr. Poparad, How’d that sound, good. Mr. Hollenbeck, Bob, let the record reflect. Mr. Bucko, Yeah. Mr. Hollenbeck, I can’t hear her. Mr. Bucko, Come on up. Ms. Green, The Assessor decided they did not want to pay for it out of reassessment anymore, and they gave it back to the Auditor. It really is an assessment function, not an auditor function. Mr. Whitten, When is the Assessor coming back to us? Mr. Kopp, I think next week. Mr. Hollenbeck, But this is a good question for the Assessor. Mr. Poparad, Well, I mean I don’t know the logic behind it, but what if next week the Treasurer says, I don’t want to do tax bills, here, give it to the Auditor. Mr. Hollenbeck, Don’t suggest that. Mr. Poparad, Well no, what I’m saying is the statute is what the statute is. I don’t make the statutes. Maybe Dan’s right. Maybe this person ought to be paid out of reassessment. Mr. Bucko, Yes, I would have no problem doing that. But do we have that option ourselves? Can we make that determination this year? Mr. Whitten, No, it’s next year we’re talking. Mr. Hollenbeck, Next year the law was changed that he has to come to you with his reassessment budget to get approval as an appropriated budget. Mr. Poparad, But we can also spend it. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well he has to come to you to get approval. If you say no, if he says, what do I have to do to get a yes, and you say, you need to add… Mr. Whitten, So if he never comes and says, take this out of my reassessment, we can’t go get it. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well now we’re back to whether we can take money out of somebody’s budget, and that gets into a gray area. You know, he can’t, on the other hand, the other side of it would be, he can’t spend a dime of it unless he comes and gets your approval, which engages the discussion as to how the money should be spent. Mr. Whitten, We’ve got this problem with the software. I mean that’s the problem here. Mr. Hollenbeck, It’s the exact discussion we had with the software. Mr. Kopp, And the software is going to be involved in it. Mr. Hollenbeck, I thought that kind of went away. I thought I heard him say he would pay for it. Mr. Kopp, No.
Mr. Whitten, No, I don’t think he said he would pay for it. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well that’s different than what… Mr. Whitten, I didn’t think… Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, I didn’t think he said he would pay for it. I mean I didn’t hear him say he wouldn’t pay for it, but I don’t think I ever heard him… Mr. Bucko, He said he would reluctantly use it. Mrs. Stevenson, And he said that there was other things that had to come out also, out of the reassessment fund. Mr. Hollenbeck, That was the discussion, Rita. Mr. Whitten, He said he had to look at it, and let us know if he’s willing to let us pay for it out of the… Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Whitten, So I thought, I was under the impression that we could just go get it. Mr. Poparad, I thought it was too. Mr. Whitten, Because although I was… Mr. Poparad, January 1st. Mr. Whitten, Supportive of the Assessor in not buying the software over him, we’re going to go get that money, because we’re not going to pay for it. I mean he’s got to use it, and he’s going to pay for it. Now you’re saying we have a bit of…
Mr. Hollenbeck, Well… Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, the statute says that he, it’s his money and he decides how to spend it; the statute that adds the condition, he has to come to you to get the authority to spend it. That’s what the statute says. Mr. Bucko, What if he decides to spend none of it? Mr. Hollenbeck, I think a good analogy is the CEDIT budget. The commissioners decide how, what, the commissioners bring to you a CEDIT plan which is a budget. You can accept it or reject it. If you reject it, then I would assume some discussions would ensue as to what kind of plan should be brought to you that would get approval… Mr. Whitten, Well I think… Mr. Hollenbeck, The same type of thing would happen with the reassessment fund. Mr. Whitten, I think this would be a great discussion for the 10th. Mr. Poparad, Has anymore duties floated down the hallway? Mr. Whitten, In either, in any direction. Mr. Poparad, Yeah. Mr. Kopp, Oh yeah, there’s… Unable to transcribe any conversation, due to the Councilmembers’ laughter. Mr. Whitten, I mean in the toilet, upstairs, anywhere. Alright, good, because we were talking about the whole building. Mr. Kopp, It’s very hard to communicate in some places. Mrs. Stevenson, Have you sent anything down to him? Mr. Kopp, Huh? Mrs. Stevenson, Have you sent any jobs down to him? Mr. Kopp, No, not lately. Just trying to get some jobs done… Mr. Bucko, Was that a loaded question.
Mr. Kopp, I had the State Auditor’s office in from upstairs, and I’ve got some accounting people in the mapping budget that need to come out of it. Mainly, a Deputy I & Deputy II. I don’t see Deputy III in there, but I think she’s in the dollars for Deputy II that have to go to the general fund, because I can’t pay them out of mapping, plus mapping is broke. Mapping, I believe is $37,000 in the hole so far this year. Mr. Whitten, What do you guys want to do with this budget? Mr. Bucko, To get things… Mr. Kopp, Now I was told today that Hobart’s paying $10,000 a year to Lake County, and Rushville pays, I’m sorry, $11,000. And Rushville pays $10,000 to their county for use of the GIS system. So I think that Valpo wants on, and they want to run a fiber optic link over here, and they also want to get on our Hamer system. So we’re going to be able to get some proceeds from Valpo to help fund a little bit of this. I would think that Portage will get… Mr. Poparad, Jim, Jim, Jim. I’m going to speak up, and I may be alone on this, but I will fight you to the death in charging another municipality for services that their taxpayers already paid for. Now… Mr. Kopp, Well… Mr. Poparad, Now that’s just a principle thing. Mr. Kopp, Well now let me expand on that a little bit. The basic service is one thing, but we’ve got to pay for maintenance. We’ve got to do the stuff for annexation and the TIF district, which are not part of anything… Mr. Poparad, I agree. Mr. Kopp, And that is an overwhelming job. We had… Mr. Poparad, I’m just saying, if we open that can of worms, it never stops. So the next thing you know we’ll have the Sheriff sitting here wanting to charge Valpo 100-bucks to process somebody the Valpo PD picks up. This isn’t a profit center… Mr. Whitten, I was thinking that. Mr. Poparad, And we’re not trying to… Mr. Bucko, I’ll second that motion. Mr. Kopp, You’re a little ahead right now. Mr. Poparad, You’re going to open a Pandora’s box by charging another taxing entity something that their citizens already pay for. That’s all. Mr. Kopp, Well I think they get the benefit from it. Mr. Bucko, I think if you’re careful with that I think you can arrange, you can… Mr. Poparad, Well now if they want to donate help, that’s fine. But if we’re going to send them some fee schedule that’s just… Mr. Kopp, No, I think we have to negotiate something, Bob. Mr. Poparad, Well. Mr. Kopp, If we’re going to be giving them stuff, I think we have the right. Mr. Poparad, They bought it already though. We’re giving them something they already bought. Mr. Kopp, But it takes a lot of work now that… Mr. Poparad, I don’t disagree with that.
Mr. Kopp, And I think that that’s what we would charge for, and keep it up with their annexation and their TIF districts and that, because that would make all of this so much better. Mr. Kopp, Ah, that’s on the list you have. Mr. Poparad, Well, that’s my point. The Plan Commission, I mean… Mr. Whitten, Well I guess, what’s your, what are your proposals, Jim? What’s it going to cost us? What’s the big number? Mr. Kopp, Well I think we’ve got to kind of go through here, and pick and choose. Mr. Whitten, Yes, you’ve got some fairly substantial expenditures here. Mr. Kopp, I’ve looked at it several times trying to figure out where to cut. And you know, the extra person, we’ve limped along this long, I guess we can keep limping along. But that’s about the only thing that I can see in there that we can do anything with. And along these same lines, the mapping fund, which is 33.02, which is next, I believe I said is 28,000 in the red, 24,666 as of today, and it’s just going redder, because there was no money in it to pay for Jackie Green the Cartographer, nor her insurance or anything else this year, because it’s broke. It’s not generating what is coming out, and I was told when I came in that the Commissioners were going to take over that, but obviously, I still have it. So I need to somehow get those dollars addressed. Mr. Whitten, Well I mean this is just, I mean this is just getting worse and worse. We’re moving in the wrong general direction money-wise, but what do you want to do with it? Mrs. Stevenson, Which one is Jackie’s budget paid out of? Mr. Kopp, Mapping. The cartographer has no money, and I don’t have any money for the insurance there or PERF. We put something new in this year, and we’re generating a couple bucks, but not much more. Mr. Poparad, Coffee. Mrs. Stevenson, No tea. Mr. Whitten, She brought it up. Mr. Kopp, I’m going to move one of my employees in the GIS, because we’re going to pick up a lot of time with not having to update maps and stuff, but I can’t, I need two or three people to make this work.
Mr. Whitten, Yeah, I think that’s right. I mean you’re running in the red with the one, I mean you’re just. I think we need to talk to the commissioners. Mr. Whitten, I mean can we move these two budgets, table them until the 11th, and deal with them with the commissioners? Mr. Poparad, I’m just throwing that out for discussion. Mr. Whitten, I mean we’re running in the red on the one, and… Mr. Poparad, GIS will be used, part of my thought process is, if the Commissioners, if they acquiesce to pick up the GIS costs, everybody in the county can use it for free. We’re not going to charge Valpo, or Portage, or my little town of Burns Harbor, and… Mr. Whitten, My little town. Mr. Poparad, Yeah. Mr. Kopp, Well it makes a lot of sense to do that, Bob, and that’s the way it should be. Mr. Poparad, Well I’m just throwing that out. I didn’t talk to any commissioners, I just thought about it because… Mr. Whitten, Things just jump in your head, don’t they, Bob. Mr. Poparad, Yeah, they do. Mr. Whitten, It’s amazing to see it work. Mr. Poparad, If this is not an economic development tool. I don’t know what is. Mr. Kopp, We’ve got the utilities wanting the information, and we can’t give it to them. Mr. Poparad, That’s what I’m saying. Mr. Whitten, Why don’t we move these two, and address these two budgets on the 11th. Mr. Poparad, Now maybe the commissioners will shoot holes in that… Mr. Whitten, At least we’ll have a chance to put them on the spot, and that’s always fun. Mr. Poparad, Is that a motion. Mr. Bucko, You want it. Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion to kick them back. Mr. Poparad moved to table the Auditor 01.02 and Auditor Mapping 33.02 budget until September 11, 2008. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, Part of my thought process is, the Plan Commission will use this; they have a little bit of money. The Drainage Board will definitely use this; they obviously have some money. Mr. Whitten, Ho. Mr. Poparad, Sorry, did I say that out loud. Mr. Whitten, You did. Mr. Poparad, I didn’t say that out loud. At this time, Mr. Murphy left the meeting. COURTHOUSE BOND 22 Mr. Whitten, Courthouse Bond. Mr. Kopp, I’ll move back to the other chair. Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion, because obviously we don’t have a choice on this one unless they want to repossess the courthouse. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Courthouse Bond 22 budget, in the amount of $804,378. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Poparad, How come it went up? I’m sorry. Mr. Whitten, Well. Mr. Hollenbeck, The principal and interest. Mr. Poparad, What, it’s not fixed? Mr. Hollenbeck, No, it… Mr. Poparad, We have an ARM on the courthouse; are we part of this sub-prime crisis. Seriously, it’s not fixed? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well there’s fixed, you know for 30 years how much they’re going to be, but they’re not the same every year in the… Mr. Bucko, What’s the balance on that one? Mr. Hollenbeck, In the early years they were less, and they grow under the theory that I’d rather pay you a dollar ten years from now than a dollar today, so the value of that dollar you’re paying is less. Mr. Whitten, Jim, give us a roll call. Mr. Poparad, We brought this country to the knee; we contributed to the sub-prime crisis. Mr. Kopp, Where did I put the roll call sheet. Mr. Whitten, I don’t know. Mr. Bucko, In that pile of stuff right there. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. JAIL BOND 211 Mr. Whitten, Jail Bond. Mr. Poparad, Okay, now I really got to ask a question. It’s gone up a million dollars, a half a million dollars?
Mr. Whitten, My God. Mr. Poparad, It went up a half a million dollars? Mr. Whitten, Well. Mr. Poparad, Are we paying it off early, getting a bonus? I mean seriously, I thought the whole concept.., is somebody saying something out there? Mr. Hollenbeck, No. Mr. Poparad, Oh. Mr. Hollenbeck, It’s not a straight line amortization schedule, if that’s your question. As years go on, in the 30th year you’re going to pay a lot more… Mr. Whitten, Is there a motion? Mr. Hollenbeck, Than you did the first year. Mr. Whitten, Motion? Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Jail Bond 211 budget, in the amount of $3,240,600. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. JUVENILE CENTER LEASE 23 Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Center Lease. Mr. Poparad moved to approve the Juvenile Center Lease 23 budget, in the amount of $798,283. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. NIRPC 131 Mr. Whitten, NIRPC. Mr. Bucko, Move it to a different fund. Mr. Whitten, Where do you want to take it? Mr. Bucko, Where’s our list? Mr. Whitten, Right there. Mr. Bucko, Well that’s where we just got the jump. Take it from the casino? Mr. Poparad, Yes, but… Mr. Whitten, We better get that money from the Assessor. Mr. Poparad, Yeah, but the… Mr. Bucko, Oh yeah. Mr. Poparad, The cable franchise is under the control of the Commissioners, so is the unallocated CEDIT. Mr. Carmichael, The Assessor?
Mr. Whitten, We want that money for the software back in this fund. Mr. Whitten, I don’t know, whatever we spent. Alright, is there a motion? Mr. Bucko, I’ll make a motion to move it to or pay it out of the Riverboat 234. Mr. Bucko moved to approve the NIRPC 131 budget, in the amount of $102,759 with the funds to be paid from the Riverboat Casino Monies 234 fund. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Poparad, I’m not adverse to that. But this is the only money we have. Mr. Whitten, It’s our only discretionary fund. Mr. Poparad, This is the only money we have. Everything else has to run by all the little office holders. I mean everything else is, this is always, I mean I don’t love NIRPC, but… Mr. Whitten, Huh. Mr. Bucko, Wait, Bob. Wait a minute. What about that… Mr. Whitten, Cable franchise fee? Mr. Bucko, No, what about that $900,000 that… Mr. Kopp, That’s gone back into the general fund. Mr. Bucko, It went back to the general. Mr. Kopp, We paid something with it, 400-some thousand the balance went back into the general fun |
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August 27, 2007 (2008 Budget Part 2)