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PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL The Porter County Council met on December 3, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. in the County Administration Center, 155 Indiana-Suite 205, Valparaiso, Indiana. Members present were Mike Bucko, Jim, Burge, William Carmichael, Matthew Murphy, Robert Poparad, Rita Stevenson, and President Dan Whitten. Also present was Auditor Jim Kopp, Lindy Wilson, Jan Noll, and Attorney David Hollenbeck, who was not present at roll call. President Whitten called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Whitten, What is your pleasure with the minutes of October 23rd, 2007? Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the minutes of October 23, 2007 as received. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. FIRST READING At this time Mr. Kopp read the Notice to Taxpayers. ATTORNEY REPORT Mr. Whitten, The next thing on the agenda is the Attorney Report, but I noticed that our Attorney is notably absent, so we’ll have to come back to that later on. SHERIFF’S PENSION DISCUSSION Mr. Whitten, If I might just jump down… Mr. Carmichael, He wrote us a letter that he wouldn’t be here. Mr. Whitten, I didn’t get it. He did? Mr. Carmichael, Yes. Mr. Bucko, Dave was going to try to do it first, so. Mr. Whitten, Yes. Well at any rate, we’ll, when he shows, he shows, we’ll get back to it. I noticed on our agenda we were going to talk later on about the Sheriff’s Pension. We put on the agenda, discussion for the Sheriff’s pension. Those guys are here to talk a little bit about that, but I think that in our recent discussions we were contemplating putting together a committee, and I would suggest that committee be Bob Poparad, myself and Mr. Carmichael-- since we’ve been involved in some of these pension discussions over the last year or two--to sit down with the Sheriff, and some other individuals, and see if we can work out what the best course of action is. Is that what you think, Bob? Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Bill? Mr. Carmichael, Yes, I agree. Mr. Whitten, Okay, so I don’t think we’re going to take any official action tonight on the sheriff’s pension, so I don’t want anybody hanging around waiting for that. We will take up the additional later on. I don’t think that’s really the big fish. So there’s a lot of parts to that that we are trying to iron out, and there are some decisions this body will have to make, but I’d like to get a little more information, and bring it back. So we will be meeting probably in the month of January would be my guess.
JUVENILE PROBATION 01.79 - Request withdrawn Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Probation 01.79 has been withdrawn, is my understanding. Is that correct? Ms. Noll, Yes.
HIGHWAY CUM-BRIDGE 25 Mr. Whitten, Highway Cum-Bridge 25, we have a transfer of $20,000 from Tires & Tubes to Gas, Fuel & Lube. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Highway Cum-Bridge 25, the amount of $20,000 from 2310 Tires & Tubes to 2210 Gas, Fuel & Lube. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, The transfer is approved.
CENTER TOWNSHIP 01.10 Mr. Whitten, Center Township 01.10, transfer, $410 from Hourly to Dues & Subscriptions; 600 from Hourly to Office Supplies. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Center Township 01.10, the amounts of, $410 from 1120 Hourly to 3930 Dues & Subscriptions and $600 from 1120 Hourly to 2110 Office Supplies. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, The transfers are approved.
SUPERIOR COURT 1 - 01.82 Mr. Whitten, Superior Court 01.82, we have a transfer of $600 from Maintenance Agreements to Office Supplies. What is your pleasure? Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 1 - 01.82, the amount of $600 from 3610 Maintenance Agreements to 2110 Office Supplies. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.
SUPERIOR COURT 2 - 01.83 Mr. Whitten, Superior Court 2, 01.83, we have a few transfers here: 1,200 from Per Diem to Hourly; 700 from Office Supplies to Hourly; 3,500 from Training & Education to Hourly; 25 from Equipment other than Vehicles to Liability Insurance; and $250 from Office Supplies to Office Fixtures. What is your pleasure? At this time, Mr. Hollenbeck joined the meeting. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 2 - 01.83, the amounts of, $1,200 from 1240 Per Diem to 1120 Hourly, $700 from 2110 Office Supplies to 1120 Hourly, $3,500 from 3130 Training & Education to 1120 Hourly, $25 from 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles to 3460 Liability Insurance and $250 from 2110 Office Supplies to 2120 Office Fixtures. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.
Mr. Whitten, The transfers are approved. Mr. Whitten, Superior Court 4, 01.37, we have a few transfers: 450 from Dues & Subscriptions to Maintenance Agreements; 1,850 from Legal to Maintenance Agreements; 600 from Interpreters to Furniture & Fixtures over $100; 1,800 from Training & Education to Furniture & Fixtures over $100; 860 from Travel to Office Supplies. What is your pleasure? Mr. Bucko moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 4 - 01.37, the amounts of, $450 from 3930 Dues & Subscriptions to 3610 Maintenance Agreements, $1,850 from 3110 Legal to 3610 Maintenance Agreements, $600 from 3170 Interpreters to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100, $1,800 from 3130 Training & Education to 4440 Furniture & Fixtures over $100 and $860 from 3210 Travel to 2110 Office Supplies. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. ATTORNEY REPORT - RESUMED Mr. Whitten, Our Attorney has arrived. Mr. Hollenbeck, I apologize. Mr. Whitten, Are you ready for the report, or should I come back to it? Mr. Hollenbeck, I’m ready. Mr. Whitten, Lay it on us.
Mr. Hollenbeck, Brevity being a virtue, most of what I would have to report are things I’ve already communicated with you, and that’s, in working with the Auditor’s Office, we have received and distributed the November CEDIT distribution, which is a benefit to the units of local government, on a cash basis, including Porter County. Now, as I hope my communications reflected, the CEDIT distribution has continued to grow substantially through the years, and will I assume, continue to do so as our population increases, and the income that’s generated does. So that occurred last week. Mr. Whitten, I think we all agree we want to have the money where it’s going to get the most bang for our buck, and bring the best return. That was the whole purpose of the committee, in my opinion. I don’t know what the next president will have in mind. Mr. Poparad, Are we going to have this discussion now or do you want to wait? Mr. Whitten, We can wait until the end but, Dave, are you going to be here with us? Are you leaving? Mr. Hollenbeck, My problem is I have to out at Lake of the Four Seasons at 7:30. Mr. Whitten, Yes, so it… Mr. Hollenbeck, So you’ve got me until about 7:00. Mr. Carmichael, I have a question. Mr. Whitten, Yes, Bill. Mr. Carmichael, My question is this: Is there a difference between the way the State can invest money, and the way the County can invest money? Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, And what is that difference? Mr. Hollenbeck, Bill, I don’t profess to sit here and be an expert on that. Mr. Carmichael, Would you find out what it is? Mr. Hollenbeck, Sure, and because that’s one of our options, the law allowed a couple of years ago, the counties--and don’t laugh when I say this--give the money to the State and they would invest it in their type of operation, and that’s something we need to look into as well. Mr. Carmichael, Well, the reason I mention this is that if there needs to be a change in the law or the rules in how the County can invest and so forth, I think now is the time to do it. I talked with Soliday the other day, and he indicated: what do you want; what do you need; and what’s the difference. He had no idea, you know, that there was different rules for the state and local. So I’d like to find out what those are to see what… Mr. Hollenbeck, Well we know what they are for counties. In fact, in the context of the major moves investment, I provided each of you with that document from the DLGF that talks about the kinds of vehicles that we as a county can invest in. The State does not impose as strict rules on itself as it imposes on the counties. Mr. Carmichael, Well, then I think we ought to have the same rules the State has. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, in a bigger… Mr. Carmichael, It’s all taxpayer money. Mr. Hollenbeck, In a bigger philosophical sense, I can’t necessarily debate that with you. I’m saying the environment we find ourselves in right now, we are constrained in the kinds of things that we can invest in. Mr. Whitten, Who will write the RFP? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, I’m prepared to do that for you, if that is your, if there is a consensus tonight to do that. I’ll get it out to everybody ahead of time so you can see it. Mr. Poparad, The only one, the only big real question I have is, these, you used the word investment houses. Is that the word you used? Investment firms, whatever. Mr. Hollenbeck, Local banks. Mr. Poparad, Well, no, I’m just, whoever does, you know, the investments, are they going to guarantee an interest rate? Mr. Hollenbeck, I, again, we’ll see what comes back by way of the request for proposals. I would suspect at this point that a guaranteed interest rate could only be secured by not transferring any of that risk, and in fact, buying a CD. I’m being facetious, buy a two-year $120,000,000 CD. Mr. Poparad, I guess that’s why I want to steer the argument in that direction. We’re going to make an RFP for Johnny’s Investment House to come in and watch this $120,000,000. But at the same time we include the banks, we’re only going to talk a half a dozen banks at the most. First of all, we’ve got to make sure it’s safe. We can’t put it with Johnny’s Investment House, you know, the back of his pickup. So I mean you’ve got Chase, Fifth-Third, First Source, maybe. How many banks actually can… Mr. Hollenbeck, There’s about ten that are eligible. Mr. Poparad. Okay, we send all ten and say, what are you guaranteeing us for the year 2008, and take it out to five decimal points, and compare that to the unknown number that’s going to be presented. It’s going to be a lot of bells and whistles, a racket and a bow, and all this, but they are not going to guarantee us X. We get X over here for sure, we might get X over here, minus fees, of course. Mr. Hollenbeck, And it’s, certainly there’s going to be a cost, and we have to look at that cost. Mr. Poparad, Right. So? Mr. Hollenbeck, I guess my thought, Bob, is, you know I don’t have any problem with it as kind of a litmus test, asking banks to give, you know, say what would your interest rate be on a CD for one year for 120-million. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Hollenbeck, You know, again, because of the limited nature of what we can invest in, the likelihood, say of losing money is, you know, I bet my firstborn on that because you have to invest things that produce interest for you. Exactly that spread, and again, we were told when we did our due diligence, that you’re probably going to be lucky to get 3½% interest next year on a straight no-risk CD investment… Mr. Poparad, Well yes, but… Mr. Hollenbeck, And by actively managing it, you’re probably going to be closer to 5%. Mr. Poparad, Right, but there’s only, I mean let’s be honest, there’s two vehicles of investment, this investment house or whatever you’re going to use. Either they’re going to the stock market or their going back to the feds… Mr. Bucko, No, no. Mr. Hollenbeck, They can’t go to the stock market. Mr. Poparad, Okay, okay, so really all they have is federal reserve instruments to buy, and we don’t need… Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s not true. Mr. Whitten, Why don’t we… Mr. Hollenbeck, There are mortgage backed securities that can be… Mr. Poparad, Oh. Mr. Whitten, Why don’t we get the RFP out? Let’s see… Mr. Poparad, No, but I would like the banks to put in a guaranteed interest rate because… Mr. Whitten, We can do that in conjunction. Let’s do this, let’s authorize an RFP to go out, subject to our approval before its sent out, along with a request from the banks that would give us a parameter involving, guaranteeing an interest rate on a safe investment. Mr. Bucko, We asked the question, during our due diligence, we did ask that kind of… Mr. Poparad, Who did you ask? Mr. Bucko, The banks that… Mr. Poparad, Well okay, but… Mr. Bucko, Let me just say this, the banks that came and asked if they could… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Bucko, And that’s the only ones that I responded to… Mr. Poparad, I bank with Chase, and I asked the guy--my guy, okay? That decision at Chase will not even be made in Chicago. That will come out of New York. So my point is, this will go real high up the food chain… Mr. Bucko, Absolutely. Mr. Poparad, And get a lot of people’s attention that hasn’t, that may not even know about this. Mr. Bucko, Absolutely. Mr. Poparad, That’s all I’m saying. We need, you know, I use the analogy, if it was my money, I sure as hell wouldn’t give it to Johnny’s Investment House. Mr. Bucko, Well don’t forget you can’t do that because… Mr. Poparad, Well no, but is Johnny going to guarantee us a rate of return? Mr. Hollenbeck, Bob, nobody’s going… Mr. Poparad, Yes, yes. Mr. Hollenbeck, Other than giving you 2.8% for the next six months in a CD, nobody is going to guarantee you. Mr. Whitten, Well I think the next step ought to be to take a look at some proposals. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, And compare them obviously against what we can do in a bank. Mr. Hollenbeck, I don’t disagree with that. Mr. Bucko, I think based on what we discussed during our meeting too, just to maybe let, tell Bob, it can’t be Johnny’s Investment House. There is a defined list… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Bucko, Of Depositories that we can do business with that the State lays out, and those are the ones that I’m going to assume will be the ones that are given the RFP. Mr. Hollenbeck, But even more so, the statute defines the investment vehicles we can use, and we’re not going to be investing in oil wells in Oklahoma. Mr. Poparad, Right, right. Mr. Hollenbeck, You know, it’s a finite group of things. Mr. Whitten, How about swamp land in Georgia. Mr. Hollenbeck, Now, one of the things we learned in terms of the investment vehicles, even though it is limited, there are some things that are guaranteed by the federal government that Jim Murphy simply doesn’t have access to buy, because they’re in the secondary… Mr. Poparad, Alright. Mr. Hollenbeck, So those are the kinds of things that somebody whose, quote, an investment person, would have access to that we simply don’t have. And besides that, if he’s lucky he’s investing two or three million bucks. Mr. Whitten, Do you need a motion, a vote? Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Can I get some sort of motion? You’ve heard our Attorney’s recommendation. Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion to submit our… Mr. Whitten, To send out RFP’s. Mr. Poparad, Yes, including the investment houses and fixed interest… Mr. Whitten, What about Johnny’s? Mr. Poparad, Huh? Johnny’s off the table. Mr. Poparad moved to authorize Attorney Hollenbeck to send out Request for Proposals for the investment of the hospital proceeds to interested parties requesting fixed interest rates, and the credit rating of the financial institution. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Alright, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I’d like a roll call on this, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Hollenbeck, End of report. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much, Dave.
JUVENILE DETENTION 01.80
Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Detention 01.80, we’ve got some transfers: 10,500 from Salaries to Medical & Hospital; 1,500 from Training & Education to Other Equipment; 500 from Training & Education to Office Supplies; 3,000 from Salaries to Furniture & Fixtures over 100; 4,500 from Salaries to Uniforms & Clothing; 10,500 from Salaries to Medical & Hospital; 1,500 from Training & Education to Other Equipment; 500 from Training & Education to Office Supplies 3,000 from Salaries to Furniture & Fixtures over $100; 4,500 from 1110 Salaries to 2220 Uniforms & Clothing. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Ken Perkins, Thank you.
DRAINAGE BOARD 01.26 Mr. Whitten, Drainage Board 01.26, we have an additional of 1,203.66 to Contractual Services--for an attorney, eh. Kevin Breitzke, Yes, sir. Mr. Whitten, What better way to spend the money. Mr. Carmichael, Uh oh. Mr. Whitten, I’m just… Mr. Breitzke, The past couple of years we… Mr. Whitten, I just wanted to see if you were listening, Bill. What’s your pleasure with this request? Mr. Bucko, And this is good for how many years. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Drainage Board 01.26, the amount of $1,203.66 to 3951 Contractual Services. Mrs. Stevenson seconded. Mr. Poparad, What’s this for? Mr. Whitten, The secretary failed to encumber Attorney Douglas’ contractual fees for the November and December meetings. Mr. Poparad, You didn’t pay him? Mr. Breitzke, We paid him out of this year’s budget, but I learned that we had failed to encumber that, and that went back to the budget, so I’m just asking for it back so we can finish off this contract. Mr. Whitten, Any further questions or discussion? Roll call, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Breitzke, Thank you all. Mr. Whitten, Thank you.
EXTENSION OFFICE 01.23 Mr. Whitten, Extension Office 01.23, we have an additional of 700 to Travel; 220 from Other Supplies to Travel; $75 from Equipment other than Vehicles to Travel. One is an additional, a couple are transfers. What is your pleasure?
Mr. Carmichael moved to grant request for additional appropriations submitted by Extension Office 01.23, the amount of $700 to 3210 Travel. Mr. Whitten, Does your motion encompass the transfers? Mr. Carmichael moved to amend his motion and grant the request for additional appropriations, the amount of $700 to 3210 Travel; and the transfer of funds, the amounts of, $220 from 2250 Other Supplies to 3210 Travel and $75 from 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles to 3210 Travel, submitted by Extension Office 01.23. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Annetta Jones, Thank you very much.
HEALTH TOBACCO 203 Mr. Whitten, Health Tobacco 203, an additional 20,000 to Hourly; additional immunization clinics added, a carryover is needed for hourly, boy, sal-a-rye-eye-is. Connie Rudd, I know. Mr. Carmichael, Is that for Portage? Ms. Rudd, It’s both offices, Bill. At the time that we, you know, we get our flu vaccine in, so we had extra flu clinics for children and for families, but we also give our children--our little ones--that are under 12 months of age, if they cannot get an appointment in our office in less than a month, then we add other clinics so the kids are timely. So that’s what, and it’s, you know at the time we submitted it, it was, you know, we had a couple months to look at, so. Mr. Carmichael, How are things going with it opened in Portage? Ms. Rudd, Oh great. I mean they really, we’re going great guns. Diana Welch, our nurse up there has done, you know, a wonderful job getting everything that we’re, you know, doing here, we’re doing up there, and offering all the services that we have, nursing services to the elderly. Mr. Whitten, Fantastic. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Health Tobacco 203, the amount of $20,000 to 1120 Hourly. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Ms. Rudd, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Have a nice holiday. Ms. Rudd, You too.
AIRPORT Mr. Whitten, Airport Aviation, additionals, 3,938 to Longevity; 302 to FICA; 227 to PERF. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by the Airport, the amounts of, $3,938 to 1241 Longevity, $302 to 1210 FICA and $227 to 1230 PERF. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Kyle Kuebler, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Have a good evening.
CONVENTION, RECREATION & VISITORS COMMISSION 93 Mr. Whitten, Visitors Commission 93, we have some additionals: 600 to Bldg/Liability/Comp Coverage; 3,500 to Training & Education. 200 from Building Maintenance to Training & Education; 200 from Building Maintenance to Travel; 300 from Building Maintenance to Travel; 1,000 from Postage to Power. Lorelei Weimer, We’d actually like to pull number three and four, which is the 200, and the following one, which is 200, then the rest of the request would remain. Mr. Whitten, Okay, what’s your pleasure with the request minus the two? Mr. Poparad, Well, do we want to address that letter from Speros. Mr. Whitten, Hehehehe. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request submitted by Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission 93, for additional appropriations, the amounts of $600 to 3420 Bldg/Liability/Comp Coverage and $3,500 to 3130 Training & Education; and the request for transfer of funds as amended, $300 from 2350 Building Maintenance to 3210 Travel and $1,000 from 3230 Postage to 3510 Power. Mr. Poparad, It’s so much fun to… Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, Well now, he wanted her budget transferred to his budget. Mr. Whitten, I know. Mr. Poparad, It’s across the county lines so there’s something, he couldn’t do that or something, I don’t know. Ms. Weimer, Have a Merry Christmas you guys. Mr. Poparad, Have a good holiday, Lorelei. Mr. Bucko, Have a nice Christmas.
COMMISSIONERS 01.30 Mr. Whitten, Commissioners 01.30, we have a 144 for 2008, Part-time from 10 to $15 per hour. We have a group of transfers: 1,000 from Vet Services to Veteran Burial; 700 from Equipment to Veteran Burial; 4,000 from Disposal to Work Comp; 600.56 from Disposal to Auto, Truck & Equipment; 657 from Disposal to Auto, Truck & Equipment. Mr. Poparad, Did we miss the part-time at budget? Mr. Whitten, Yes, what is that about? Mr. Poparad, We missed the part-time at budget? Ms. Noll, Yes. Mr. Poparad, I thought we did it at budget. Com. Bob Harper, No, you didn’t. Mr. Poparad, We didn’t, then we must have missed it. Mr. Bucko, Yes, must have. Mr. Carmichael moved to amend the 144 Form, Part-time Hourly from $10 to $15 per hour and grant the request for transfer of funds, $1,000 from 3160 Veterinary Services to 3979 Veteran Burial, $700 from 3710 Equipment to 3979 Veteran Burial, $4,000 from 3920 Disposal to 3420 Workmens Comp, $600.56 from 3920 Disposal to 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment and $657 from 3920 Disposal to 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment, submitted by Commissioners 01.30. Mr. Poparad seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Carmichael, On that Veteran Burial, you know that $200 is what we have been paying the last 40 years. It doesn’t even scratch the surface. A funeral now days is what, 6,000? Average? Why don’t we up that, the Commissioners raise that to $1,000. I don’t know how many you have from World War II, the veterans you have. There’s quite a number, I suspect. Com. Harper, Okay. As long as we can do that we’ll take care of it. Mr. Carmichael, The $200 is just… Melissa Hartig, And it’s actually 100 right now. Mr. Carmichael, It’s only 100? Ms. Hartig, The burial is 100, and the markers is 100. Mr. Carmichael, Oh, okay. Ms. Hartig, And usually we don’t get too many claims for the markers. Mr. Whitten, Really? Ms. Hartig, We went through $25,000 this year, so. And I’ve got a stack waiting, so. Mr. Carmichael, Why don’t you take that under advisement and see what you can do? Com. Harper, We’ll take care of it. We’ll be back at the first meeting in January. Mr. Carmichael, Okay, call the roll. Mr. Whitten, Roll call, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
COMMISSIONERS 233 Mr. Whitten, Commissioners 233, three additionals: 4,000 to Power; 4,000 to Water & Sewer; 15-grand to Auto, Truck & Equipment. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Commissioners 233, the amounts of $4,000 to 3510 Power, $4,000 to 3520 Water & Sewage and $15,000 to 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
CCD FUND 132.30 Mr. Whitten, CCD Fund 132, transfer of $1,161.97 from Buildings to Maintenance Agreements. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by CCD 132.30, the amount of, $1,161.97. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, The transfer is approved.
CEDIT 2 - 251.30 - Request Withdrawn
CEDIT 21 - Request Withdrawn Mr. Whitten, CEDIT 2 - 251.30, additional $204,000 to CEDIT Project 2. Com. Harper, I thought both were taken off. Mr. Whitten, You’re withdrawing those. Com. Harper, Because… Ms. Noll, They need to be, they’re 2008 budget requests so you have to wait until next year to do them. Mr. Poparad, Both of them? Ms. Noll, Yes. Mr. Whitten, So the CEDIT #2 and CEDIT 21 are both off. Ms. Noll, Right. Com. Harper, That’s what I understand. Mr. Whitten, Okay, they’re both off. Fine.
ASSESSOR REASSESSMENT 08.09 Mr. Whitten, Assessor Reassessment 08.09, transfer $1,125 from PTABOA to Hourly. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Assessor Reassessment 08.09, the amount of $1,125 from 1340 PTABOA to 1120 Hourly. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, You got your transfer, John.
CLERK 01.01 - Request denied Mr. Whitten, Clerk 01.01, 144, Executive Deputy from 36,484 to 40,054. What’s your pleasure? Is this something we took up at budget time? Dale Brewer, Well actually, you told us not to submit any requests, remember, at budget time. Then I read the last day that you’ve done the executive deputy in the other offices. I thought it would be fair to bring them all up. Mr. Whitten, Well now wait, I think what I said was to give us last year’s budget then give us a separate sheet of any increases that you needed or are requesting. Ms. Brewer, But we were instructed there weren’t going to be any increases, if I remember correctly. Mr. Whitten, I don’t think that’s right. Mr. Carmichael, No. Mr. Whitten, I don’t think that’s right, Dale. Ms. Brewer, Because this came up at the very end of the budget hearings. I’m just asking that you bring her up to what the other executive deputies were brought to, then there would be parity among them. And I have talked to the new clerk, Mrs. Fish, about this, and she agrees. Mr. Carmichael, What did we give the employees this year, 1,000? Mr. Whitten, Yeah. Mrs. Stevenson, $750.
Mr. Bucko, Yes, 750. This was something entirely different based on discussions with Treasurer Murphy, based on discussions with Com. Harper, based on the, based on information provided by different departments head on this individual, and that is from the Treasurer’s Office, that’s Janna, okay, as to work that she was doing, and the issues over and above the chief deputy pay salary, that that was to be increased. Mr. Whitten, Okay. You’re not talking about this one, right, Mike? You’re talking about why we did the other one. Ms. Brewer, Yes, I want, all I’m trying to do is bring this executive deputy up to the other one. Mr. Bucko, Well yes, but the job descriptions that are going to be included in this one, this one doesn’t, the one that you’re talking about, this one does not do that. We’re quite sure that she won’t do that Ms. Brewer, Well this one does quite a bit more than the others, and actually knows her job. Mr. Bucko, Well no, I… Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure with this request? I mean I understand… Ms. Brewer, And helps supervise Treasurer people. Mr. Whitten, Excuse me, Dale. I understand that, but I’d really like to see us confine these kinds of requests to the budget hearings, and we did discuss increases, and we did discuss, we changed quite a few throughout the budget, and there were quite a few requests made along with budgets. So I think, you know, I never told you you couldn’t increase. Ms. Brewer, So reading in the paper that we’re holding the line, I seem to remember reading that quite a bit. Mr. Whitten, And we held the line, Dale.
Ms. Brewer, You know, not having new… Ms. Brewer, And I’ve always played by the rules, and given you really what you wanted. Mr. Whitten, Okay, but what, you’re putting words in our mouth that we didn’t have. We didn’t tell you you couldn’t make any increased request. That’s not true at all. Ms. Brewer, Seems to me I remember a budget memo… Mr. Whitten, You’re wrong. You’re wrong, I said give me a copy of last year’s budget, and then any requests that you might have on a separate form. You’re wrong if you read it that way, and I’m sorry that you misinterpreted that, but that’s the way it is. Everybody else, or a lot of other folks included some increases outside of last year’s budget, so. And we entertained those. We looked at those, and we did hold the line, and this Council did a bang-up job. Ms. Brewer, And this will hold the line too, because if you look I always return money in my salaries. Always. Mr. Poparad, Dan, I’ve got a question. Mr. Whitten, Yeah, man. Mr. Poparad, If the other office did not get this raise, would you be sitting in front of us, banging on the desk for Peggy? Ms. Brewer, Probably not, I… Mr. Poparad moved to deny the 144 Form submitted by Clerk 01.01, Executive Deputy from $36,484 to $40,054. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Burge, Dan, the discussions we’ve had in the past, and there was an email to that effect in the last month or two, and I’ll reiterate it again, because I think it could be the solution that we need to address these types of issues for the future, and that is to create a human resources, either director or department, to tackle these types of issues. It seems like almost every month this body is faced with these types of discussions, and if we had someone that could consistently write a uniform code of, for job descriptions, and to do the research, do the analysis, and come back to us with recommendations, would certainly help, but it would take a lot of the emotion, a lot of the… Ms. Brewer, Uh huh. Mr. Burge, People feeling like they are getting slighted by the system. Mr. Poparad, Well I’ve got to be honest, you know, I don’t want to interrupt you, but if Janna didn’t get a raise, Peggy didn’t get one then. You know, the only reason you’re here is because it’s this me-too syndrome. Ms. Brewer, No, you’ve given the title of executive deputy, and the whole thought is this… Mr. Poparad, It’s the me-too. Mr. Bucko, It is. Ms. Brewer, Was to have everybody the same. Mr. Poparad, It’s the me-too. She got it, so me too. Mr. Whitten, Okay, alright. Ms. Brewer, Just like the chief deputies. Mr. Whitten, One at a time.
Mr. Poparad, I made a motion. Mr. Burge, It would be a step in the right direction to help sift through it. Mr. Poparad, She probably deserves a raise. Mr. Whitten, She probably does. Mr. Poparad, But I’ve got to be honest, the only reason Dale is here is because somebody else got a raise. Ms. Brewer, Yes. Mr. Whitten, But, guys, I mean, walk through the government center, everybody that we gave a $750 raise thinks they got more coming, because that’s the American way. That’s the American dream. Ms. Brewer, No, I’m just trying to make it a level-playing field… Mr. Whitten, Well it’s never going to be. Ms. Brewer, For executive deputies. Mr. Whitten, And I understand that, but, you know, and it’s not that I don’t think this person deserves this increase. I’m just going to vote no because I think it should be done at budget time. I don’t like to pick and choose throughout the year. Could I have the roll call, please. Motion to deny incomplete on the following roll call vote: Carmichael - Mr. Whitten, A yes is a no. Mr. Carmichael, No. Mr. Whitten, So you’re saying yes. Mr. Bucko, The vote is to deny, with a yes vote… Mr. Burge, A yes vote is to support the motion to deny. Mr. Whitten, Right. Motion to deny carried on the following roll call vote:
Carmichael - Yes Murphy - Yes Mr. Kopp, Motion’s six zero with one abstention.
EXPO CENTER Mr. Whitten, Expo Center 146.66… Ms. Brewer, Well can I say one thing, I hope that you do put a human resource department in, and I hope you go back to job descriptions, because for the last few years, the inequities that are happening in the salaries are terrible. Absolutely terrible. Mr. Bucko, If we’d of had something in place… Mr. Whitten, I agree. Mr. Bucko, That could have put a hold on it. Mr. Whitten, Okay, Expo Center 146.66, transfers: 400 from Telephone to Water & Sewage; 300 from Training & Education to Water & Sewage; and 300 from Power to Water & Sewage. What’s your pleasure? Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Expo Center 146.66, the amounts of, $400 from 3320 Telephone to 3520 Water & Sewage, $300 from 3130 Training & Education to 3520 Water & Sewage and $300 from 3510 Power to 3520 Water & Sewage. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, Transfers are approved.
WEIGHTS & MEASURES 01.28 Mr. Whitten, Weights & Measures, we have a transfer, 1,000 from Travel to Other Equipment. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Weights & Measures 01.28, the amount of $1,000 from 3210 Travel to 4540 Other Equipment. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, It’s approved. Thanks for coming down. Mike Harper, Thank you.
COUNCIL DRUG MONEY FUND 247 Mr. Whitten, Council Drug Fund 247, we have an additional, 5,637.50 to 3110 Legal. What’s your pleasure? Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Council 247, the amount of $5,637.50 to 3110 Legal. Mr. Carmichael seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
COUNCIL CASINO 234 Mr. Whitten, Council Casino Fund 234, additional, $152,000 to Longevity to pay the second half of ’07 longevity. Mr. Carmichael, Do you have a different figure? Is that the right figure? Ms. Noll, No, it needs to be amended to 146… Mr. Whitten, 887.50? Ms. Noll, That would be it. Mr. Whitten, So the magic number is $146,887.50.
Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted and amended by Council Casino 234, the amount of $146,887.50 to 1241 Longevity. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, Auditor 01.02, 144 for 2008: Deputy GIS from $31,000 to $28964; Deputy GIS from $31,000 to $33,036. We’ve got a mess of additionals: 10,000 to Gas, Fuel & Lube; 300,000 to TAW Interest; 5,000 to Consultants; 19,000 to Training & Education. Then we’ve got some transfers: 8,000 from Salaries to Hourly; 5,000 from Overtime to Hourly; 1,100 from Lease Purchase to Maintenance Agreements; 600 from Lease Purchase to Other Supplies; 1,385 from Lease Purchase to Consultants. Shall we begin? Mr. Poparad, Where do we start? Mr. Whitten, Well. Mr. Carmichael, Why are we going from 31 to 28? Mr. Kopp, I am going to pay the one deputy 28,964, and I’d like to pay an engineer 33,036. Mr. Carmichael, And you’ve got what? Mr. Kopp, I had $62,000. I’m just changing it. One will be a deputy, and one will be an engineer--a computer engineer. Mr. Carmichael, Okay, so no additional dollars. Mr. Kopp, No additional dollars. It’s just changing the rates. Mrs. Stevenson, Didn’t we address this at budgets, and we did put them at 31,000. Mr. Kopp, We put two at 31, and I’ve been able to hire somebody and move it around to make it work. Mrs. Stevenson, At budget time were you trying to move it around it at budget time? Mr. Kopp, I just put the two jobs in at budget time not knowing what I… Mrs. Stevenson, At 31. Mr. Bucko, Do you want to name one of those the lesser, something different that deputy? Mr. Kopp, One is going to be a maintenance deputy. At this time, Mr. Whitten left the meeting. Mr. Bucko, It’ll clearly see that in the job description, and create that as such? Mr. Kopp, Yes, it’s in the job description. Mr. Bucko, Okay.
Mr. Carmichael moved to amend the 144 Form submitted by Auditor 01.02-GIS, Deputy GIS from $31,000 to $28,964 and Deputy GIS from $31,000 to $33,036. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Kopp, In January. Mrs. Stevenson, Should I get Dan? Mr. Poparad, Keep going. Mr. Hollenbeck, It’s your gavel, Bill. Mr. Carmichael, Discussion? Roll call. At this time, Mr. Whitten returned to the meeting. Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Stevenson - No Bucko - Yes Mr. Whitten, I have no idea what the motion was, so I abstained. What did we just do? How much did we spend? Mr. Murphy, We didn’t spend anything. Mr. Carmichael, Now you’re down to the additional for Gas. Mr. Whitten, We’re down here to the… Mr. Hollenbeck, The additionals. Mr. Whitten, Okay, what about the additionals? Mr. Carmichael, The additional, the warrant interest, have you read all of those? Mr. Whitten, Yes, I’ve gone through them. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amounts of, $10,000 to 2110 Gas, Fuel & Lube, $300,000 to 3810 Tax Anticipation Warrant Interest, $5,000 to 3120 Consultants and $19,000 to 3130 Training & Education. Mr. Poparad, We’re doing all the additionals at once or one at time? Motion died for the lack of a second. Mr. Whitten, $10,000 to Gas, Fuel & Lube. What’s your pleasure? Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amount of $10,000 to 2110 Gas, Fuel & Lube. Mrs. Stevenson seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Murphy, How’s the new system going there, Jim? Mr. Kopp, The Highway has had credit cards for about three weeks. The Sheriff’s Department, everybody else got them last week, and they’re all working. The bill will carry us through December 7th, and I have to pay it in 21 days, and that’s why I’m asking for the money. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, $300,000 in TAW. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amount of $300,000 to 3810 Tax Anticipation Warrant Interest. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Burge, Could you, just a brief explanation? Mr. Kopp, We’ve got $10,000,000 borrowed in tax anticipation warrants. We need to borrow what, another 2,000,000 to make payroll on Wednesday or Thursday this week. Then we’ll probably need another 2,000,000 later in the month to make payroll, and the anticipated interest in that is between 290, $300,000, so I’m asking for the money, which apparently has not been appropriated in the past, and we’ve been written up for it, so I’m asking for the money to pay the interest bill. Mr. Whitten, When are the tax bills going out? Mr. Kopp, Sometime this week probably, they’ll be in the mail Friday or Saturday. Mr. Whitten, I wasn’t at the Monday meeting because I had a death in the family. What did we figure out on Monday? Well, I read in the paper that they are going to get it under their Christmas trees this year. What happened? Mr. Kopp, Well the due date… Mr. Whitten, What happened, Jim? Mr. Kopp, Is January 11th. But we got an abstract approved from the State, Tuesday afternoon, I believe, maybe Tuesday morning. We found an error in it Thursday morning, and we gave it back to the State. They had an emergency meeting Friday morning, and I talked to them several times Friday. I talked to them this morning, and they indicated that we would have something back late tonight or in the morning. At that point, we can crunch our numbers again, and then we will be able to print the bills. Mr. Whitten, You know, I just want to say that I remember this Council meeting with the Commissioners and the Elected Officials, and I remember saying, no matter what happens, if we’ve got to work through the weekends, if we’ve got to work through the night, don’t hand the taxpayers their bills at Christmas. Don’t screw around here and get bills that are undoubtedly going to be higher than a lot of folks are anticipating, and deliver it to them in December. Have we done that? Have we worked around the clock? Have we done everything we can do to get them out, because… Mr. Kopp, We’re… Mr. Whitten, I’ve heard so many different timeframes, Jim, and I’m not saying you, but… Mr. Kopp, We had to go back to the State for an error that would have cost this county $9,000,000. Mr. Whitten, Okay, but beyond before that. Mr. Kopp, Dan, there’s been overtime worked and everything else. This thing has just been one thing after another. I mean we can go into detail for hours of what’s had to be redone, and what’s had to be reconstructed, what doesn’t come out of the computer correctly. It’s just one thing after another. The State went through the whole abstract with us point by point, we changed a number on November 9th, but they only changed one number, they didn’t change a bunch of other stuff that has precipitated us being short and having to go back. Mr. Poparad, Well I’ve got a, I’m going to comment at the one meeting Dan wasn’t here. You were having problems with the TIF zones. Mr. Kopp, That TIF problem still isn’t fixed. Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Kopp, That’s not holding up tax bills. Mr. Poparad, But what did we hire Carl Cender for early in the year to fix the TIF zones, and by the way, the Town of Chesterton is really looking for their $30,000 too. So I guess that’s my question. I thought we hired somebody to come in and fix the TIF zones earlier this year. Mr. Kopp, We, the TIF zones are fixed. It’s a matter of how it’s calculated with the State, and the State has changed the formula a little bit, but we have no record of them ever telling us they changed the formula. So there’s mills that need to be moved around. Mr. Whitten, If people pay their property taxes in January… Mr. Kopp, They’ve got until January 11th. Mr. Whitten, Do they get the tax break? Mr. Hollenbeck, They have to pay them by December 31st. Mr. Whitten, They get to claim it. Mr. Hollenbeck, You deduct your taxes in the year that you submit the payment. Mr. Whitten, So we are going to send tax bills out to people, and I’m not saying it could have been avoided, I don’t know, I’m not the Auditor or Treasurer. I’m not in any of those offices, I’m just on the Council. We’re going to deliver tax bills to people right before Christmas that if they don’t shake it loose and make their payments in a week, week and a half, they don’t get to claim it on their taxes. Is that what I am understanding? Have we done, in all these offices, every possible thing? Have we worked through the weekends? Have we worked through the night? Because I’ve got to tell you, I went to the old school, when you tell somebody, we’re going to have it to you on Monday, and it comes Friday night, and you know you ain’t going to have it on Monday, I work through Friday night, I work through Saturday, I work through Sunday, and I hand it to them on Monday. Have we done that? Mr. Kopp, There’s nothing we can do. It’s in the hands of the State. Mr. Whitten, So you’re saying there’s nothing we could have done, but we were going to get tax bills out in November. We were going to get them out in October. We were going to get them out in September. There’s nothing more that this County, we have worked every possible moment to… Mr. Kopp, I’m not going to say that, because I… Mr. Whitten, Then we failed the taxpayers. We failed them, Jim. If we have not worked around the clock to avoid this disastrous embarrassment, we have failed these taxpayers. And this is the very thing that this Council was meeting time and time again. We’ve got elected officials from Portage and Valpo saying who’s going to pay our interest. We should have been working non-stop. I’m not in those offices; I don’t know. But I deliver what I promise to deliver, and I think everybody on this Council was saying don’t deliver this stuff to them in December like this. We were talking ten months ago, Jim. Mr. Kopp, Do you want us to mail the bill in January? Mr. Whitten, Well we’re still going to screw them on them being able to claim it on their taxes. Mr. Kopp, Well they can pay in advance. Mr. Whitten, Oh my God. My mom didn’t know if her bills was going to go up. You were good enough to run that for me, and I appreciate that, but her bills are going up 25, 30%. She doesn’t have it. Mr. Kopp, I don’t… Mr. Whitten, Luckily she’s got me, I’ve got it. But I mean, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know. Mr. Carmichael, One of the things I’m concern about, Dan, is the large banking outfits that has, or are holding the escrows… Mr. Whitten, Ugh, oh my God. Mr. Carmichael, It’s 30 or 30% of the tax money… Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, In escrow. Mr. Whitten, That’s right. Mr. Carmichael, If they don’t pay it by December 31st, those people are out of luck. Mr. Whitten, And I’ll tell you, those people don’t know that, because I’ve had a lot of people tell me, well I paid it to my mortgage. Mr. Carmichael, Because I read where you want to move the deadline to the 11th of January… Mr. Kopp, It’s already approved for the 11th of January. Mr. Carmichael, Yes, but wait a minute. What about the escrows? Mr. Kopp, The escrows, my understanding from Mr. Murphy is the escrow people will pay it as quickly as they can, and that we have to get the bills in their hands. We’re going to run the biggest escrows first, to the financial institutions, the biggest first, then the next one, and they are going to try to get them paid to us. They want to give people the tax deduction too. Mr. Whitten, Yeah, this is a disaster. Mr. Kopp, Otherwise, they have to refund money, so they’ve got some… Mr. Carmichael, Yeah. Mr. Kopp, Incentive to get the tax bill paid. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure with this? Mr. Poparad, Which one are we doing? Mr. Whitten, The 300,000. Mr. Burge, Dan, I have a couple of points. Mr. Whitten, Yes, Jim. Mr. Burge, What is being done? Is there a plan at all as far as getting the word out to people, that they have to get their taxes paid before January 1st to be able to deduct in on their taxes. Is there any kind of a… Mr. Kopp, It’s been in the paper several times. Different people have written on it. The Times, I think it’s been in. Mr. Poparad, I wonder how hard would it be to stick a note in the tax bill? Mr. Murphy, He’s going to do that. Mr. Poparad, They’re going to stick a note in the tax bill. Mr. Whitten, I have people asking me, and they’ve read or been told different timeframes. They’re going to go out this day, and they are going to be due this day. Mr. Kopp, I believe last week we said they’d…
Mr. Burge, As long as they know that they have to have them paid by the… Mr. Burge, By December 31st. But maybe if the media could help with that as well. One more splash of information just to, for the public good, that is all on that point. The second point was, you said the bills would be out by this weekend. So just within the last week all the information was given to the Treasurer’s office so they could turn it around and get them sent out? Mr. Kopp, The Treasurer’s office had the information, probably Tuesday or Wednesday, that’s when we found the error on Thursday, and we went to the State. The State had an emergency meeting. I was talking to the State at 7:00 on Friday morning. We found out they were having an emergency meeting at 9:30 with the Auditor and the DLGF. We got one response out of that meeting from the Auditor; a different response from the DLGF. The DLGF said we would have something late tonight on Monday or Tuesday rather. I talked to them at noon today, they said if it’s tonight, it’ll be very late, probably tomorrow morning. Mr. Burge, Okay. So roughly within in a week, a week and half’s time, the Treasurer’s office has received it, and got everything turned around, and sent back out within a week’s to a week… Mr. Kopp, Right, and what we’re, we need six hours to crunch the bills after, we have about four hours to massage some stuff, and then it will take about 16 hours to print the bills. And we’ve got everybody lined up to… Mr. Whitten, What day would the taxpayers get their bill? Mr. Kopp, I would guess Friday or Saturday. It’s going to start probably Friday, and go on through Saturday, and possibly Monday. Mr. Whitten, This Friday? Mr. Kopp, Yes. Mr. Poparad, So that would be about the 10th or the 11th. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure with the 300,000? Did we already make a motion on this? Mr. Bucko, I think it’s already had a motion on it. Mr. Poparad, I think I made the motion. Mr. Whitten, Roll call, please. Motion to approve the additional appropriations for $300,000 to 3810 TAW Interest in the Auditor’s 01.02 budget, carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Carmichael, Question before we go any farther. Mr. Whitten, Uh huh. Mr. Carmichael, You said we are going to need another two million for this to meet payroll, another two million to do something else? Mr. Kopp, The payroll this time, we need about 850,000 for, the next payroll will be in that range also, and we have bills that we have to pay. Mr. Carmichael, But we haven’t authorized this yet? Mr. Kopp, The loan has been, the loan’s been… Mr. Carmichael, We authorized it? Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, you authorized me to issue more tax anticipation warrants. Mr. Carmichael, That’s a mistake. That’s a mistake. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well I guess you could… Mr. Carmichael, To incur anymore interest on, it’s better that we shut her down. Mr. Hollenbeck, Well, you could rescind the authority. Mr. Carmichael, Rescind it. Yes, shut her down. There’s not payroll, there’s no, you know, this has got to stop. Mr. Poparad, See I… Mr. Carmichael, We can’t go on adding on, it just doesn’t work. The money doesn’t, the bills don’t go out, we don’t get our money. What are you going to do, borrow another five million for January? We can’t do it. Mr. Poparad, I guess my thought, I’ve got to agree with Bill, my frustration level is so high I have to keep my mouth shut, because a year ago in, a year ago and 13 days, minus 13 days, we had our first meeting about tax bills, and here it is a year later minus 13 days, and they still ain’t done. Now let’s fast, okay, this year is gone, we shot ourselves in the foot. What is happening with next year’s bills? Okay, we’re done here. I mean we can’t change the wheels, they’re already rolling. Mr. Whitten, You’re right. Mr. Poparad, What are we doing about next year’s tax bill? I know it’s not in your hands yet, but I guess we’re going to go back to the assessors. We’re going to start there, and if we are going to have to come down here every friggin night starting in January, we can’t let this happen again. We can’t. We just can’t. Now what has to be done, I don’t know, but John, I mean, well, let’s not have that discussion now. I’m sorry. Mr. Whitten, Roll call please. Mr. Burge, Wait, discussion, what are we voting on? Mr. Whitten, The 300,000 we’re done with that. Do we have a motion on the 5,000 to Consultants? I need a motion on the 5,000 to Consultants. Mr. Bucko moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amount of $5,000 to 3120 Consultants. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mrs. Stevenson, What’s the Consultants, which ones? Mr. Kopp, We have to change the computer system to work into a State CAR report that will then generate the state financial report, something they gave to us at the auditor’s meeting, and there’s also some monies in here for the excess levy appeal that Cender has been working on, it’s two things together. Well, one of them is 5,000 and one is… Mr. Murphy, What’s the Training & Education for, Jim? Mr. Whitten, Isn’t the Cender & Cender invoice under 3130, the Training & Education? Mr. Kopp, I think it is, yes. It’s written out there. Mr. Whitten, Okay, what’s your… Mr. Murphy, The 19,000 is Carl Cender? Mr. Kopp, It’s not all Carl Cender, part of it is RDS. Mr. Whitten, We have a motion and a second. Can I get a roll call, please? Motion to approve $5,000 to 3120 Consultants carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, 19,000 to Training & Education. This is the other one. Mr. Kopp, That’s the other half. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure? Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amount of $19,000 to 3130 Training & Education. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, Okay, we have not done the transfers yet, because I wasn’t in the room? Mr. Carmichael, No. Mr. Whitten, Okay, what’s your pleasure with the transfers? Mr. Carmichael, What are they? Mr. Bucko moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amounts of, $8,000 from 1110 Salaries to 1120 Hourly, $5,000 from 1130 Overtime to 1120 Hourly, $1,100 from 3730 Lease Purchase to 3610 Maintenance Agreements, $600 from 3730 Lease Purchase to 2250 Other Supplies and $1,385 from 3730 Lease Purchase to 3120 Consultants. Mr. Whitten, I read through them, Bill. We have a motion to approve them. Mr. Carmichael seconded. Mrs. Stevenson, And exactly what is this going to pay for? Time already put in or? Mr. Kopp, No, it’s time that we’ll be putting in, well, the Hourly is partially spent, and I’ve two more payrolls to pay hourly with. I’ve got to be in the red, I think I was in the red last payroll. Mrs. Stevenson, And this is your office? Mr. Kopp, Yes, this is my office. Mrs. Stevenson, And then the 5,000 is for overtime? Mr. Kopp, It’s from Overtime to Hourly again. Mrs. Stevenson, Okay, and this is, this will be overtime hours anticipated through the end of the year? Mr. Kopp, No, this is taking the money out of Overtime, and putting it to Hourly. There’s still about $1,000 or $1,500 left in Overtime that has been being spent the last few weeks. This is excess money that’s in there. Mrs. Stevenson, And you’re going to guarantee us that everybody in your office will be working to get the job done. Mr. Kopp, Everybody has been working to get the job done. Mrs. Stevenson, I’m saying every night if that’s what it takes. Mr. Kopp, If that’s what it takes, we’ll get it done. The problem with the abstract is two people can work on it. You can’t put ten people on it. Mrs. Stevenson, I understand some things, but there’s also rumors going on in the building, and all over the place, that your office isn’t working the hours they should be. Mr. Kopp, Well. Mrs. Stevenson, All I care about is what your office is doing. Mr. Kopp, My office is working to get this done. Mr. Whitten, All those in favor signify by saying aye. Motion to approve the transfers submitted by Auditor 01.02 carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, Transfers are approved. Mr. Kopp, Could I ask one more question? Mr. Whitten, Yes, Jim. Mr. Kopp, I have two Level II Assessors that I’d like to send to the assessor school in January so they can maintain their Level II hours, which they have to maintain to maintain their license, and I need permission to do that, because the money is not appropriated for it. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure? If the money is not appropriated, how do we… Mr. Hollenbeck, You mean there’s, you have a line… Mr. Kopp, We have a line item for training, but we have to get permission from the Council to go to the assessor’s school. Mr. Hollenbeck, Okay, so you’re not asking for a… Mr. Kopp, I’m not asking for the money. I’m just asking for permission to use the money to go to the school. Mr. Hollenbeck, And whose, somebody is telling you, you need the County Council’s permission to send somebody to a training school? Mr. Kopp, Right, because it’s outside of the Auditor’s office. It’s an assessor training school. Mr. Hollenbeck, Oh, I see. Mr. Whitten, What’s your pleasure with this request? I sure don’t have a problem with it. Mr. Carmichael moved to allow the two Level II Assessors in the Auditor’s Office to attend the Assessor School in January 2008. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Whitten, Any discussion? Mrs. Stevenson, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Mr. Poparad, Are they assessor or auditors? Mr. Kopp, I have two people in my office… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Kopp, My chief deputy and another lady… Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Kopp, That are Level II Assessors. To maintain their Level II license, they have to do 45 hours continuing ed every two years. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Kopp, And I have to do the same for me. Mr. Poparad, Does that help the Auditor’s office? Mr. Kopp, Yes it does. It lets us know what the assessors are doing. Mr. Poparad, Well I don’t disagree with that. I guess I question, and nothing against Lindy, she works in the Auditor’s office. If she wants to go be an assessor, trot her butt back down the hallway. Mr. Kopp, To maintain the license is a benefit to everybody. Mr. Poparad, Uh uh, no. No, what we’re doing is spending money for somebody--and this is nothing against Lindy--to maintain a license so just in case she wants to go back to being an assessor. Mr. Kopp, No. Mr. Bucko, No. Mr. Kopp, No, not at all. Mr. Poparad, Well then either she is an assessor or an auditor. Mr. Kopp, No, it’s very intertwined with what we do with the assessors. Mr. Whitten, How much does it cost? Mr. Poparad, Well there hasn’t been much damn intertwining this year, Jim, between the Assessor’s office and the Auditor’s office, so. Mr. Bucko, We’re hoping for better years. Mr. Whitten, Geez, I should just… Mrs. Stevenson, My question is, how, when is the school going to be? Mr. Kopp, The end of January. Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion. Mr. Whitten, We already have a motion. Mrs. Stevenson, Okay, will they be needed in the office while they are this school, because… Mr. Kopp, I can’t tell you that right now. Mrs. Stevenson, Because the issue is, a lot of times we need, Lindy is important to be in your office because no else can do her job, so we’re… Mr. Whitten, It’s probably not a bad idea to have people cross trained though, I mean… Mr. Kopp, Well we’ve been trying to do that. Mr. Whitten, Yes, so I mean… Mr. Kopp, I have the payroll cross trained. I have the insurance cross trained. Mr. Carmichael, You want a roll call or a voice vote? Mr. Whitten, I want a roll call on this one. Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Murphy - Yes Poparad - Yes Mr. Kopp, Motion carries six to one. Thank you. Mr. Whitten, You’re welcome. Mr. Kopp, I’ll leave you. Mr. Whitten, Have a nice holiday. Mr. Kopp, I hope I will, Merry Christmas. Mr. Poparad, Do you want to talk about, do we want to have that discussion now? Mr. Whitten, Which one? Mr. Poparad, Next year’s tax bills. Can we have that discussion? Mr. Whitten, Let’s do it at the end. Mr. Poparad, Alright.
JUVENILE HOUSING DEBT 294 Mr. Whitten, Juvenile Housing Debt Bond 294, additional $134,684 to 8120 Debt Payment. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Juvenile Housing Debt 294, the amount of $134,684 to 8120 Debt Payment. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Carmichael, How many years are left on that bond? Mr. Hollenbeck, I don’t remember, Bill. What happened was, when I was working with Liz on these debt service things, we discovered that for some reason we hadn’t appropriated the juvenile housing debt that’s why it’s in here. I don’t remember how many more years, but I’ll look that up and get it to you. Mr. Carmichael, Thank you.
SHERIFF 01.05 Mr. Whitten, Sheriff 01.05, additional 24,000 to Pension. Mr. Poparad moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Sheriff 01.05, the amount of $24,000 to 2310 Pension. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, We’ve already done the Sheriff’s Pension Discussion. Now we have the… Sheriff Dave Lain, Well, except for one issue that kind of goes along with this last item. I’m hoping that we can have the Council agree on which method to make those payments to the pension is going to be preferred. Mr. Whitten, We are going to, I think that was part of our committee discussion. Is that correct? That’s one of the things we are going to be tackling with the committee. Sheriff Lain, Okay, well then that’s fine. And we are committed to sitting down in January. Mr. Whitten, You’re committed to the committee. Sheriff Lain, Absolutely. Mr. Poparad, We’ll be in touch. Mr. Burge, One thought before the Sheriff leaves was, during our councils of councils, whatever we call it, League of Councils meeting, where we had the representatives from the various municipalities, they are faced with the same challenges with their pension funds. So as that subcommittee meets, if you can keep that in mind that there’s a bigger picture that might be able to be embraced. Sheriff Lain, Well… Mr. Burge, Statutorily, if you can even do it. Sheriff Lain, Yes, right. Mr. Burge, Where if you can, does it make sense to blend some of those municipal police funds into yours to make a larger fund, if there’s some benefits of doing that, just to throw it out for discussion. Sheriff Lain, Sure, well, I agree with the philosophy. I don’t know that that is doable, because this is defined by statute, and municipal pensions are completely different than sheriff’s merit pensions. Mr. Burge, I realize your counterparts in the municipal sector are facing the same challenge, so… Sheriff Lain, Oh sure, yes, well, and you know, private industry, they’re facing the same issues too. Mr. Whitten, Okay, I think that’s it. Thanks, Dave. Sheriff Lain, Okay, thanks. Mr. Bucko, Thanks, David.
SUPERIOR COURT 6 - 01.39
PLEASANT TOWNSHIP 01.56
CORONER 01.07
WESTCHESTER TOWNSHIP 01.12
UNION TOWNSHIP 01.58
PORTER TOWNSHIP 01.57
VETERAN SERVICES 01.27 Mr. Whitten, We have a whole bunch of transfers. Let me just run through them all. We have Superior Court 6 - 01.39, transfer of $150 from Maintenance Agreements to Office Fixtures under $100; Pleasant Township 01.56, transfer of $300 from Training & Education to Office Supplies; Pine Township 01.55, transfer of $200 from Hourly to Travel; Coroner 01.07 a transfer of $400 from Per Diem to Training & Education; Westchester Township 01.12, transfers, $100 from Hourly to Office Supplies, $100 from Hourly to Travel, $100 from Hourly to Power, $50 from Laundry & Cleaning to Maintenance Agreements, $45 from Laundry & Cleaning to Disposal; Union Township 01.58, transfer of $50 from Training & Education to Dues & Subscriptions; Porter Township 01.57, transfer of $7.45 from Office Fixtures under $100 to Office Supplies; Veteran Services 01.27, transfer of $73.90 from Telephone to Lease Purchase and $10 from Telephone to Office Supplies. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by the following: Superior Court 6 - 01.39, the amount of, $150 from 3610 Maintenance Agreements to 2120 Office Fixtures under $100; Pleasant Township 01.56, the amount of, $300 from 3130 Training & Education to 2110 Office Supplies; Pine Township 01.55, the amount of, $200 from 1120 Hourly to 3210 Travel; Coroner 01.07, the amount of, $400 from 1240 Per Diem to 3130 Training & Education; Westchester Township 01.12, the amounts of, $100 from 1120 Hourly to 2110 Office Supplies, $100 from 1120 Hourly to 3210 Travel, $100 from 1120 Hourly to 3510 Power, $50 from 3910 Laundry & Cleaning to 3610 Maintenance Agreements and $45 from 3910 Laundry & Cleaning to 3920 Disposal; Union Township 01.58, the amount of, $50 from 3130 Training & Education to 3930 Dues & Subscriptions; Porter Township 01.57, the amount of, $7.45 from 2120 Office Fixtures under $100 to 2110 Office Supplies; and Veteran Services 01.27, the amounts of, $73.90 from 3220 Telephone to 3730 Lease Purchase and $10 from 3220 Telephone to 2110 Office Supplies. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Whitten, The transfers are approved. PROSECUTOR DRUG UNIT DISCUSSION Mr. Whitten, We have the Prosecutor Drug Unit discussion. Mr. Carmichael, That’s withdrawn. Mr. Hollenbeck, I think we got a letter. Mr. Whitten, That’s right, he’s working on getting people together. JANUARY REORGANIZATION MEETING Mr. Whitten, When do you guys want together in January to reorganize? Mr. Carmichael, They set a date of the 11th? Mr. Whitten, You want to do the 11th? Is that what we decided? Mr. Carmichael, Wait a minute, as a deadline for the tax bills. Mr. Whitten, Oh yeah, well we ought to get together before that. Mr. Carmichael, Do we want to hold off until we find out what’s really happening? That would put us on the 12th. Mr. Whitten, Whatever gets us a new president sooner. Mr. Hollenbeck, If nominated, you will not accept. Mr. Whitten, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem either way, Dave. Mr. Bucko, Did we do this, Dan? Mr. Whitten, What is that? Mr. Bucko, That’s that Veterans’ thing.
VETERAN SERVICES 01.27 - REVISITED Mr. Whitten, Yes, on that last one, the transfer that we just approved, the Veteran Services 01.27, the transfer of 73.90 from Telephone to Lease Purchase, and $10 from Telephone to Office Supplies, however, they would like it to be $98.30 from Telephone to Lease Purchase. They are $24.40 short of paying this year’s bill due to the contract being cancelled in ’06. What is your pleasure with that amended transfer? Mr. Poparad moved to amend the transfer submitted by Veteran Services to $93.30 from 3220 Telephone to 3730 Lease Purchase. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Hollenbeck, Do you have anything to talk about? Can you wait, I need to check the statute on your organizational meeting and time. Mr. Whitten, No, we’ll come back to that in a minute. CITIZEN APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCEMENT Mr. Whitten, We’ve got some citizen appointments that we are going to be making I think. Did you want to address this? Just briefly.
Harold Erwin, Thank you for your time. I think most of you know me, I’m Harold Erwin, I’m your appointee to the Porter County Board of Parks & Recreation. My term is due to expire at the end of this month. After much consideration, and a lot of thought, I have decided that I do not wish to be reappointed in this position. I feel that the Park Board has come a long way. I’ve been involved in the park system now for almost 20 years between the county council appointments, and also through the county commissioners, which I would like to thank them also for their support. And I would like to thank you, each individually, for your support that you have given to the Porter County Parks Department, and to our Board, to get us to the point where we are now. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Mr. Murphy, Thanks for your service. Mr. Whitten, Okay, we’ve got some citizen appointments that we’re going to have to be dealing with. The ABC, the Convention & Rec, Visitors Commission, Park Board, PTABOA, Burns Harbor EDC, Portage EDC. I mean, have we’ve been advertising those? Have we gotten letters from anybody? Mr. Poparad, I think we need to send letters to them, don’t we? Mr. Whitten, Yes, and we may… Mr. Carmichael, Let them go until January. Mr. Whitten, Yes, that’s right. JANUARY REORGANIZATION MEETING - RESUMED Mr. Whitten, Did you get something for us, Dave? Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, the only requirement is that your organizational meeting occur in the month of January. Mr. Whitten, Okay, when would you guys like to get together; maybe midnight on the 1st. Mr. Carmichael, The reason I say that is, the deadline for the taxes are the 11th. Ms. Noll, That’s a Friday. Mr. Carmichael, That’s a Friday? Mr. Poparad, Yes, it’s Friday. Mr. Carmichael, If we meet the following Monday or Tuesday, we’ll know where we are, a little better that if we meet… Mr. Burge, Would that really affect… Mr. Poparad, No, that doesn’t mean anything. We’re going to know by December 31st, and after December 31st it doesn’t matter because we have to pay the TAW’s back. Mr. Burge, But logistically, Dan, the closer to the first that week of the first, for me, works better because after you get past the 8th, you start getting the business travel, and I won’t be here. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Well we have one, two. We don’t want to do it on the 1st. Mr. Poparad, The 7th? Mr. Bucko, The 7th… Mr. Poparad, Is a Monday. Is the room open? Ms. Noll, Yes. Mr. Whitten, The 7th is a Monday. Mr. Bucko, Let’s do it. Mr. Whitten, Want to do it the 7th, 5:00, 5:30? Mr. Poparad, On the 7th? Mr. Whitten, Yes, is everybody okay with the 7th, at 5:00 or 5:30? Mr. Poparad, 5:00. Mr. Whitten, Let’s do 5:00 on the 7th? Mr. Poparad, Who’s buying, are you buying? Mr. Hollenbeck, His wife will be here with a sandwich and a coffee for him. Mr. Whitten, For me. Okay, we’ll do that. Mr. Bucko, No dinner… Mr. Murphy, For anybody else. Mr. Whitten, Do you want to send out letters to everybody whose our appointments to see if they’re interested in remaining on, and then we can go through that. Ms. Noll, Yes, I was waiting until you guys decided when you would reorganize. Mr. Whitten, Second Reading, please. SECOND READING Mr. Carmichael moved to approve Second Reading. Mr. Poparad seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
ANY OTHER MATTER Mr. Whitten, A couple things under Any Other Matter. One is, I think, Bob, you have some things to say. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, But I’d like for us to be thinking, talking about, you’ve been reading in the paper about the Portage Adult Ed. This Council has, at least, through my time on the Council has been talking a great deal about economic development, and I was very concerned to hear that our Portage Adult Education might be going out of business when so many people in our community have attained their GED or their diploma, my parents being included from the Portage Adult Ed. I think that’s about as economic development as you can get. So I’d like to think that we can do something to help them out. Mr. Poparad, I, that’s what I wanted to talk about. We need to… Mr. Whitten, Oh. Mr. Poparad, No, that’s fine. Mr. Whitten, Go ahead. Mr. Poparad, I’ll make the motion that in conjunction with the Commissioners maybe we, I talked to Bob about it, and obviously, we all seem to be on the same page. Maybe we could use 150,000 for five years to keep them alive for five years, and by then the State’s going to solve this adult education funding, we hope. Mr. Whitten, What are your thoughts on this, guys? Mr. Murphy, I’m not comfortable with it. I attended a meeting last week with Mike Berta, Ed Soliday, Ed Charbonneau, a couple members of the State Department of Education Adult Education liaisons, IVY Tech, there was other people there. Just to get a better idea of the problems, the scope of the problem, I learned a lot. I learned that the program currently is running in the deficit of about $110,000 a year, and that varies. But basically, it’s between 125, $150,000 a year. The program services, because they take federal dollars, they have to service anybody. Mr. Whitten, Uh huh, that’s right.
Mr. Murphy, So they are getting kids from Lake County. Of the $110,000, and this was in the paper as well, the Gary School Corporation is in arrears, $53,000 just for the year 2006. Lake Station was 28,000. So as you can see, the bulk of the deficit is the Lake County Schools, and complicating the matter is, Gary actually has an adult ed program. So it kills them to pay Portage when they’ve got their own program, but that, that’s part of the larger problem. Mr. Whitten, Right. Mr. Murphy, It may not make sense. It may actually, but nobody’s actually done that analysis. There’s a lot of fixed costs, I understand that. But my point is this, before we go and commit to a $150,000 a year for five years of economic development money, I think we need to have a few questions answered, before I’m comfortable doing that, making that commitment.
Mr. Whitten, Well I find that… Mr. Whitten, I don’t disagree with most of that, Matt. Mr. Poparad, I just don’t want to see it close. Mr. Whitten, Except for a couple things, one is, I have contacted the Lake County Council, and they are not going to pay any money. They do not see this as their problem. Okay? I don’t know that we want to do, and I don’t disagree with anything you are saying, but, if we are saying, boy, we should call up Gary, and say, Golly, you owe us this money, let’s say you cut us a check, and if you don’t, then we’re not going to be able to GED programs and diplomas for Portage residents and Valpo residents. If we’re going to rely on that, I mean, come on. Mr. Murphy, Shouldn’t we at least ask the question? Mr. Whitten, Well, you can ask them. Mr. Murphy, It was no at the meeting, Dan… Mr. Whitten, But I don’t think… Mr. Murphy, That you weren’t at… Mr. Whitten, I don’t think… Mr. Murphy, Mr. Berta said he would go ask them. Mr. Whitten, I don’t think, I mean we always talk about regionalization, Matt. Oh, well we’ll pass a tax for regionalization, because it, I was told during the RDA stuff, it’s not about Porter County, you’ve got to think outside Porter County. Now all of a sudden, we’re going to say, well, it is about Porter County, we don’t want to educate Lake County kids or people, we want to educate Porter County people. Mr. Murphy, We want Lake County to pay their bills. Mr. Whitten, Well of course we do. Mr. Murphy, Is it too much, should we not even ask? Mr. Whitten, I probably know school budgets, other than Dave Hollenbeck in this room, better than anybody, and I’m telling you, if you are relying on the Gary School System to pay their bill, I mean it’s a great… Mr. Murphy, I didn’t say they would. Mr. Whitten, It’s great idea. Mr. Murphy, I would like… Mr. Whitten, It’s a great idea. Mr. Murphy, I would like for them to ask. I would also like… Mr. Whitten, I think we have, excuse me, you had your time. Mr. Murphy, Someone to ask Lake County Government. Mr. Whitten, I think we had, I have asked Lake County Government. Mr. Murphy, Did you ask Chet Dobis to give us… Mr. Whitten, I think we have a problem that we need to recognize, because of all the things in the three years that I’ve been up here, that I’ve heard called economic development, this is probably the one that I think, for me, most closely is related to economic development, so. Mr. Murphy, I agree. I’m behind the program 100%, I’m just saying let’s ask some questions.
Mr. Poparad, And I agree, Matt, you’re right. The problem is he is right, but that doesn’t solve the problem. I just don’t want to see this program close… Mr. Poparad, Well, but… Mr. Murphy, And I’m saying I’m not going to support CEDIT dollars, but I’ve got a lot of questions. I would like to hear these people say… Mr. Poparad, And I do too, but my point is, if we can commit 150 for five, okay, now it stays alive for five years. Then in the meantime, we all do our homework. Portage does their homework, maybe the State, which everybody thinks this is a state issue anyway. Mr. Bucko, Maybe we should start that dialogue. Mr. Poparad, Right, but in the meantime, they’re going to close in June. Okay? That’s the reality of it. Mr. Murphy, The deadline is February 15th. They need a funding commitment by February 15th. Mrs. Stevenson, How much is the State paying? Mr. Poparad, Well it doesn’t matter, everybody thinks this is a… Mrs. Stevenson, No. Did you find that out from the meeting? Mr. Poparad, But this is a state issue. Everybody thinks this is a state issue… Mr. Murphy, I don’t know, we were just talking. Mr. Poparad, Because it does cross county lines, and he’s right, Gary isn’t paying. We’ve got LaPorte. I mean we’ve got Jasper, Newton, I mean they are all over the place. I’m just saying I just don’t want to see it closed. I think, Harper, you’re on the same page, and I make a motion in conjunction with the Commissioners that we send $150,000 for five, and it’s not set in stone. I mean next year if the State comes and bails it out, we’re done then. Mr. Whitten, I guess I would like to hear, and I was not at that meeting, I’ve been at a lot of meetings for this Council… Mr. Murphy, Well let me tell you… Mr. Whitten, But I wasn’t at that meeting. Okay? I’ve attended a lot of meetings for this Council, but I will tell you, I would like to hear what the alternatives are to not taking federal dollars, and what would that mean to the program. I mean I think that’s a legitimate question. Mr. Murphy, Before we make this decision, the people at this meeting are working on alternate solutions. Mr. Whitten, I’m not suggesting, I wasn’t suggesting… Mr. Murphy, I don’t, I think we’re… Mr. Whitten, I wasn’t suggesting a vote tonight, Matt, interestingly enough. Mr. Poparad, No, I just wanted to… Mr. Murphy, Well he’s saying to make a commitment. Mr. Poparad, No, we can’t make the commitment, the Commissioners have to do that. Mr. Whitten, Right. Mr. Poparad, We just have to approve it. I’m just saying, should we show support, if the Commissioners present a proposal to save this program. That’s all I’m saying. Mr. Whitten, We, I just want, I feel, and all I wanted to relay to the Council tonight is, I feel this is a major program that we have to be committed to trying to preserve. Mr. Murphy, I agree. Mr. Whitten, And that very well may be, you know, maybe they need to start suing some of these school systems. Maybe they need to, I don’t know. Mr. Bucko, So I think what I understand is, Matt is trying to say, okay, do we take the pressure off of the counties or the subdivisions of government by saying, we will support this. Perhaps we do to some degree. But the other side of this thing is, if we do due diligence here, we decide to support the direction that the Commissioners are taking with supporting this, but we have to act accordingly and responsibly, and we have to take the bull by the horns and deal with the State, and deal with our own local school corporations to make sure that dialogue happens. Mr. Poparad, Well Portage, the information, when I started to do some research, all the Porter County schools pay. Mr. Murphy, Yes. Mr. Poparad, The problem is outside of Porter County. Now, unless we throw a wall up, the problem blends over the county line. I mean it’s real simple. I mean, and I’ll be rhetorical, when the Commissioners gave x-amount to the Valpo Economic Development, there was no where this much discussion about it. So I don’t know, you know, I guess I’m going to say, where do our priorities really lie. Mr. Whitten, Well, and that’s true. And I’ll tell you, I met with the… Mr. Poparad, If we don’t fix this problem now, 16, 17, 18 year olds do stupid things, like I said in the paper, we’re going to be talking to these people, 29, 30, 31, they’re going to have a different uniform on, probably orange. Mr. Murphy, I agree. Mr. Poparad, So I mean, we throw a lot of money at a lot of things, and I just want to offer support. That’s all I’m saying.
Mr. Whitten, Well, and I’ll tell you, I met with my Senator. I told him I thought the State should be doing more. Ed Charbonneau said that they were looking into it, and he agreed. I left that meeting saying, we’re, I, at least from my vote, are willing to step up to the plate here, and contribute to try to keep this thing alive. But I’m disappointed with the State’s reaction. I’d like to see them more involved. I’d like to seem some alternatives from the State.
Mr. Burge, I agree with Matt completely that, A, number one, the program has to be saved. I mean I think everybody up here is in agreement the program has to be saved. Number two, though, I think Matt hit right on the head, there are many alternative means of funding it that need to be explored first before we commit taxpayer money to it. Number three, I think it’s absolutely ludicrous to not expect Lake County, and Lake County Government, Lake County Schools to honor their financial commitments. Where do they get off, somehow being exempt, simply because they are Lake County. Anybody else would be held accountable. There’s no reason why they cannot be held accountable as well. Mr. Burge, Two other things, one is the private sector, we haven’t allowed enough time yet for the private sector, different organizations to step in, charitable foundations, etc, that may be willing, if they’re approached, to help fund it. And the last is the school corporations themselves. Have we had a sit-down with them to see if they can kick in, incrementally, a little bit more since this is an education program or problem, and or 54%... Mr. Whitten, The schools can’t pay more.
Mr. Burge, Of all the taxpayer is already taken by the schools. So there’s several issues to be addressed there before we get anywhere near a deadline for… Mr. Murphy, I agree. Mr. Whitten, The sad fact of the matter is, with school budgets in the school, and the money following the child, and all the changes that happens downstate, schools are not in the position to give more. They’re just not. They’re not, they don’t have the… Mr. Poparad, We hear the argument from Duneland, why should I pay for, and I’m a Duneland taxpayer, why are my tax dollars supporting the kids from Gary. That’s what I’m saying, you know, why should Duneland be charged more to cover the kids from Gary or Lake Station or wherever. Mr. Burge, If Lake County would pay their obligations, you’d be talking probably less that $20,000. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Yes, but… Mr. Poparad, This problem is bigger than this Council and the Commissioners. I just think a lot of people don’t want to see this die, and I’m just throwing a band-aid over it, you know. Mr. Whitten, And we’re talking about an economic development tax. I mean it is an economic development tax. Mr. Murphy, I just think we need to let some things play out. And I agree, we’ve got to be behind this 100%, and I’m committed to finding a solution. But there are things that are in motion now, based on that meeting that I attended, we need to let those play out; be in contact with Mr. Berta and the… Mr. Poparad, Oh, absolutely. But I mean in the meantime, can we give them a safety net that if the Commissioners propose to spend some EDIT money on it… Mr. Murphy, Then the pressure is off everybody else when we give safety nets. That’s my only problem. Mr. Whitten, Bob, what’s the Commissioners’ thoughts on this? Com. Harper, Well I haven’t talked to everybody, but…
Mr. Whitten, What’s Com. Harper’s thought on this? Mr. Whitten, There’s few people in this county that could start off talking about education and end up on the South Shore, Bob. That’s good. You’re good. Com. Harper, You know, we’re going to be throwing spears around. We’ve got all sorts of problems, because we’re worried about somebody over there getting more than over here, and we’re getting ready to put a half a million dollars in the South Shore line that we know is going to be carrying ten times as many people from Lake County to Porter, and I haven’t even begun the debate over that.
Mr. Whitten, You’re right. We’ve spent, the money this County has spent… Mr. Whitten, Can we have, I mean would this Council entertain a meeting involving some of the principals, like the superintendent and a commissioner, and just really get to the nuts and bolts of what’s going on. Mr. Hollenbeck, That’s what I was going to suggest. I understand the desire to show a clear message, but we kind of got the cart before the horse. The way this would proceed legally, is that the commissioners would amend their CEDIT plan, and bring it before you--a request to do this. That can’t happen at this point until your next meeting. In the interim, that would give you an opportunity to form some type of group, and go out and answer some of these questions. Mr. Whitten, Why don’t we look to, we have until February. I mean I would like to have a meeting, quite frankly, with this Council, some state representatives and senators, superintendents from the schools, and find out just what the options are. And I think what, in Bob Poparad’s defense, I think his notion was to send support to the Commissioners to move that forward. I think that’s what he was trying to do. Mr. Poparad, Yes, that’s all. Mr. Hollenbeck, And there’s nothing wrong with that. But the methodology would be the Commissioners need to amend their CEDIT plan and bring it back. Mr. Whitten, I will send out an email to everybody during my last couple weeks as president--one of my parting gifts--and I will ask dates that everyone is available, and we will send out letters of invitation to some different individuals that we think would lend some credibility to the discussion, and we’ll coordinate some dates, and we’ll get down to it. How’s that sound? Mr. Bucko, Sounds okay. Mr. Whitten, You okay with that? Mr. Poparad, Fine. Mr. Burge, But to answer Bob Poparad’s question, I think it’s unanimous that it will be funded.
Mr. Whitten, Yes.
Mr. Murphy, Yes. Mr. Bucko, Quiet and relaxing, huh. &nbs |
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December 3, 2007