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PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL
Members present were Michael Bucko, William Carmichael, Karen Conover, Rita Stevenson, Dan Whitten and President Bob Poparad, Also present was Auditor James Kopp, Attorney Dave Hollenbeck, Lindy Wilson and Jan Noll. Mr. Poparad call the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mr. Poparad, The approval of April 22nd. Mrs. Conover moved to approve the minutes of April 22, 2008 as received. Mr. Whitten seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.
Mr. Poparad, We’re going to interrupt things a little bit. I want to, I’ve got a little statement, but I’m not going to read the whole thing. Mr. Carmichael, Have we had first reading? Mr. Poparad, No, we ain’t had it yet. Mr. Carmichael, Oh, okay.
Mr. Poparad, This is regarding the tax bills. Since our last meeting, nothing has really changed. Not one county has got their budget approved by the DLGF. Marion County just sent out their tax bill for ’07. They had a state-ordered reassessment for the entire county. Now it appears LaPorte County is going to go through the same thing. The DLGF is still requiring software to be certified by the State; a couple weeks ago, they weren’t even scheduling appointments yet for the vendors to look at the software. They haven’t even, in April, they were still trying to figure out what the General Assembly wanted to do with property taxes, and the software vendors can’t do the software. Mr. Kopp, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Okay, I wanted to make sure I got this right, that we’ve got to correct, before we can get the thing back on track. Because of these problems, almost every municipality in Porter County will have borrow money in the coming months, and it may be two to three years until everything gets cleared up. Last year the taxing units in this county spent $3,000,000 in interest, collectively, a little over that, which obviously, they did not budget for. So therefore, I mean, they have to short themselves, etc, etc. So what I’m, the money we have, the hospital money is receiving interest, and I’m throwing this out for discussion, that we will reimburse the municipalities for their interest costs that they have to borrow to operate on while we get the tax bills straightened out. Mr. Whitten, What’s our timeline on the provisional tax bills? Mr. Poparad, Well I was going to get to that. Mr. Whitten, I think it all sort of ties in, doesn’t it?
Mr. Poparad, Yes. I’m just throwing this out for discussion. If everybody is agreeable or a majority is, we’ll throw this in front of the Commissioners. I don’t know how they are going to receive this. We get a committee going; meet with the municipalities; and maybe we can assess their tax needs, our own tax needs if nothing else, in terms of interest costs. Mr. Whitten, Do we, Bob, if I may. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Whitten, When we’re talking about 25 to 30%... Mr. Poparad, Of residential. Mr. Whitten, Yes, I’m starting with that, we’ll get into the commercial in a second. When we’re talking about the residential, the 25 to 30%, they may not actually be what it is in the end, right? Mr. Poparad, Correct. Mr. Whitten, Because we still have this 1% cap. Mr. Poparad, Right. This is what they have allowed us to do under the provisionals. Instead of 50% of last year’s residential bill, it’s roughly, Jim, it’s 25 to 35% bandied. It depends on which taxing unit it is, and what their tax rate was, and it’s a whole… Mr. Kopp, It was 23 to 28 is what Murph said… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Kopp, Is what it’s going to net out. Mr. Poparad, Right, when it’s all said and done. Mr. Whitten, That’s even with the 1% cap, and that’s going to change things. Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Whitten, We still think that the average taxpayer… Mr. Kopp, There’s only… Mr. Whitten, Is going to get a 25% of their overall yearly bill. Mr. Kopp, Roughly. Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Kopp, There’s only one or two properties in the County that are going to get hit with the… Mr. Poparad, Cap. Mr. Kopp, Cap. Mr. Poparad, This bill, and it needs to be stressed--and I hope the Press picks this up accurately--this residential tax bill for this year is going to be artificially lower by the, what the legislators did with the 650-million extra they threw at the PTRC, and the 250-million extra. Your tax bill this year is going to be very low in comparison to other years, and next year it’s going to fade away, then the following year is when Mr. DeBoer’s tax echo thing hits--in the paper today, which was a very good article. That’s when the boomerang comes back around, and we’ll all get slapped in the fanny. But I’m just throwing this out for discussion about paying the municipalities’ interest cost to help them, you know, keep their head above water, because they are going to have to borrow money at some level. Mr. Whitten, At what point will we know how much that is? Mr. Poparad, Well, as soon as you go out and meet with them. Mr. Whitten, I’d be happy to do so. Mr. Poparad, Go ahead, Mike. I’m just throwing this out. Mr. Carmichael, I was before him. Mr. Poparad, Okay, I’m sorry, Bill. Mr. Carmichael, Are you talking about 50%? Mr. Poparad, 50% on industrial/commercial will go out. Residential is 20… Mr. Carmichael, No, 50% of paying the tax anticipation warrant interest money. You’re only going to go to June, that’s a half a year. Mr. Poparad, Well I’m just throwing this out. Mr. Bucko, He’s not even got that far. Mr. Poparad, We haven’t gotten that far. I’m just throwing out the concept, the principle. Mr. Carmichael, Because it was three-million last year. Mr. Poparad, But that was for everybody for the whole year. Mr. Carmichael, You’re talking about 100 to 50. Mr. Poparad, Well if they borrowed money for the whole year, but they won’t have to borrow money for the whole year, because the tax bills are going out. Mr. Carmichael, That’s what I say, 50%. Mr. Poparad, Well I don’t know what, I don’t have no idea what the number is. That’s why, actually, you’re going to be part of that committee too. Mr. Whitten, I mean I guess, Mr. Chairman, I like the idea, but I think we need to explore it a little bit. Mr. Poparad, Yes, I’m just throwing it out for discussion. Mr. Whitten, I guess we could put together a committee, if you’re so inclined to nominate… Mr. Poparad, Well, is that a volunteering? Mr. Whitten, I’ll be happy to do so. Mr. Poparad, Okay. I’d like to have you, and Mr. Bucko, Bill, and Mr. Burge; he already agreed to it, he’s not here. Mr. Whitten, You want four of us on there? Mr. Poparad, Yes. Well, unless you want to meet with every municipality. I thought we’d… Mr. Whitten, We’re not going to meet together, right? Mr. Poparad, No, you guys break it up, decide, you know. Mr. Bucko, Yes, we don’t have to do schedules. Mr. Poparad, You take everything south of 30, Mike. You’re down there, you know. Mr. Whitten, I’ll meet with Portage. Mr. Bucko, What do you mean south of 30, you know. Mr. Poparad, Well I just had to say that. Mr. Bucko, A question to ask you, Bob. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Bucko, Before we get too much further into this. If, we talked about a 50%, then went back to what the statute said one other time about a 45%... Mr. Poparad, Provisional, you’re talking about? Mr. Bucko, Provisional bills. Now the State is telling us we can’t, we might be able to do 25%. Mr. Poparad, That’s because of all this PTRC and these special homestead credits. Mr. Bucko, Okay, so what we are having to do is, we’re not able to collect enough taxes, and going to have to pay more interest because of another restriction put onto us by this state… Mr. Poparad, You win the prize. Mr. Bucko, Along with the problems that have been created, if some are here… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Bucko, But there’s a good deal of them down there. Mr. Poparad, Oh yeah, absolutely. Mr. Bucko, I just, I’m sorry, I think it’s a little one-sided. I’ll go, I’ll be on the committee, I’ll find the information out, but at this point in time, I’m not personally in favor of biting the bullet to save the State. Mr. Poparad, I agree. You’re correct. Everything is correct. Mr. Bucko, Because they don’t want to look as bad on paper in face value and everything else. Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Bucko, As they are making us look. Mr. Poparad, Correct. Mr. Bucko, By not being able to get the bills out in a timely manner. Mr. Poparad, Right, I can’t, we can’t fire Cheryl Musgrave and the DLGF. Mr. Bucko, No we can’t. Mr. Whitten, Mr. Chairman, if I may, I mean I think that it’s a great idea, we need to do whatever we can to make it easier on the taxpayers. Anybody in their right mind that doesn’t know that the State is an absolute wild west show down there trying to figure out which way is up, hasn’t been reading the papers. Mr. Poparad, Correct. Mr. Whitten, So I think the State is going to have a hard time trying to sell this as any thing other than a mess down there. But whatever we can do up here to make it easier on the taxpayers in Porter County, let’s do it. I’m happy to serve on that committee. Mr. Poparad, Alright. Well, you guys, after the meeting you guys can figure out, maybe by the next meeting, we can have an idea where we’re at. Bob, I’ll get something to you guys for the commissioners’ meeting, I mean if you kill it, then that’s your prerogative. Mrs. Conover, Mr. Chairman, does this mean every taxing unit, including the schools and library, and anybody whose had to borrow tax anticipation warrants? Mr. Poparad, Yep, they all had to borrow. Mrs. Conover, Okay. Mr. Poparad, Last year the $3,000,000 figure was a collective figure… Mrs. Conover, Of everybody. Mr. Poparad, Of all the taxing units in the county. Mrs. Conover, That had to borrow. Mr. Poparad, Yes, that had to borrow. Okay? Mrs. Conover, Okay. Mr. Poparad, Alright, first reading. FIRST READING At this time, Mr. Kopp read the agenda requests for the meeting. COUNTY ASSESSOR OFFICE DISCUSSION Mr. Poparad, We’re going to shuffle things. I asked Mr. Scott to come tonight, he wasn’t on the agenda, but the assessors and that whole payroll--come on up, John--plan, etc, etc. Did you bring enough copies for everybody? Mr. Hollenbeck, I’ve got some extra ones. Mr. Poparad, Okay. At this time, copies of the office plan were given to the members. Mrs. Conover, Shirley, one more for Dan. Shirley LaFever, Let me give all of you one, because we’ve got the sketch of the one. Mr. Poparad, Okay, John, we’ve been having these meetings. You’ve got a plan and you’re ready to move forward.
John Scott, We’re, you asked us to, with our plan, to speed the process up one month. We had tried to get everything done, you know, by the end of June, right before the July thing. We were told by the State that best way to do it is don’t send out anything to anybody whether they were hired or they were not hired, because they may do damage, stuff like that. But then the Council asked us, and the Commissioners asked us to speed that up, which we have done. Mr. Poparad, So will you commence moving them, the ones that you are going to retain, are you going to start moving them immediately then?
Mr. Scott, As soon as we can. We made the plan for upstairs where the Commissioners have allowed us to have the room, and it’s all laid out, and it’s everywhere it’s supposed to be. We’re working with IT, and the electrical people that are coming in. The company that’s doing this for us, they became the lowest bidder. The high bid was 23,500-something, and their bid is about 20,000. I didn’t realize there was that much work that had to go into moving, you know, 14 people someplace, but. Mr. Carmichael, Have you figured money for mileage for these field people? Mr. Scott, Uhh. Mrs. LaFever, They all have mileage in their budget, Bill, which will be transferred over to our budget. Mr. Carmichael, Is that going to be enough? Mrs. LaFever, We should. Mr. Scott, We’re hoping… Mrs. LaFever, We hope so. Mr. Scott, It will be enough. Mrs. LaFever, We don’t know with the price of gas. Mr. Carmichael, I don’t know if the Council should consider raising the mileage amount because of the cost of fuel at this point. I think the federal government was 48-cents a mile a couple of years ago. Mr. Kopp, The State went to 44 for July 1st. Mr. Poparad, So 44, July 1st. Is that what the IRS says? Mr. Kopp, The IRS is 48, the State went to 44. Mr. Poparad, Oh, the State went to 44. Mrs. LaFever, We’ll work with the mileage we got now. If we run out we’ll come back before the Council. Mr. Carmichael, I was going to say, you’re going to run out. Mrs. LaFever, Maybe not. Mr. Hollenbeck, Just to refresh your recollection, your current policy is, you mirror what the State pays, but you do that six months later. Your current policy is, whatever the State does on July 1st, which is their fiscal year, you blend into your next year’s budget. Mr. Carmichael, Well we may have to… Mr. Hollenbeck, If you want to change that policy, that’s fine. But your current written policy is that whatever the State adopts on July 1st, you implement on January 1st of the following year. Mr. Scott, Yes, this happened to my township, because of all the growth and everything that was there, mileage, we had to come back in for reappropriation. Mr. Carmichael, You might want to look at that. Mr. Whitten, So all this stuff includes Portage or Center Township, is that correct? Mr. Scott, Portage and Center stay where they are by law. Mr. Whitten, Right. Mr. Scott, They would stay there anyway, because they’re in a, they are so large, they’re going to be in their facility, and they’re already in a county building, so they’re not paying any rent or heat. I mean they’re paying, but not directly. Mrs. LaFever, This just includes the ten townships, Dan. Mr. Scott, If they lose their referendum, we may cut some of the personnel there because a lot of them would probably be coming up here too. The State, in all their wisdom has decided to do away with 101’s, and 101’s are recreational vehicles, and this kind of stuff. The sad part about it is, Portage has a Yogi Bear Park, that’s almost about a thousand units in that particular park, not all of the ones that would go to the motor vehicle to be assessed by licensing, but those people are from all over the state, so we’re still going to have to go up there, and we’re still going to have to assess, unless the State tells me not to. So I mean, you know, they’re saying we’re lessening your burden, but they’re really not because there’s, we’re going to have to get together with the parks or find out which ones are not from the state, and which ones are. Mr. Poparad, Speaking of the funds, have we got a clear line on, let’s talk about Pine Township. The salary of Nancy stays, based on this morning, it stays in Pine Township, that stays there, but all the rest of money will be moved over to his budget? Jim, is that? Mr. Kopp, Not all of it. We’ll move any part-time, Office Supplies, Travel and Training. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Kopp, We will not move rent, utilities, and machine maintenance costs or contracts. Mr. Poparad, Well… Mr. Bucko, What was the last thing? Mr. Poparad, Go ahead, Jim. Mr. Kopp, That’s what the State said. Mr. Poparad, Okay, but we’re going to leave, she’s getting out of her lease, so what happens to that rent money? Mr. Kopp, It’ll revert back into the general fund. Mr. Poparad, Okay, they can only, he can only absorb, what did you say, Travel… Mr. Kopp, Wages, part-time, Office Supplies, Travel and Training. Mr. Poparad, Alright, will you guys have that all ready for us, because we’re going to have to do this our next meeting, right? Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes. Mr. Poparad, You’ll have all them figures, we’re going to have to do what, an additional/transfer? What did you call it? Mr. Kopp, It’s going to be, they called it an additional, an additional transfer. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Kopp, But the technical word probably is an additional transfer, so you guys will do that. Mr. Poparad, Okay. But are we going to do this by township, one township at a time? You’ll have this arranged. So we’re all on the same page, so July 1st you’ll have the money. Mrs. LaFever, Yep, Jim and I talked this morning, I think we’re ready to go. Mr. Poparad, Okay, okay, alright. But the Salaries stay in Pine Township. Mrs. LaFever, The Salaries stays in their individual budget. Mr. Kopp, The elected official stays… Mrs. LaFever, Yes. Mr. Kopp, The other thing that you might want to think about, is if, I just read this, the Office of the Attorney General, for about the fifth time, it looks like you may have to pay a dollar a year salary to somebody that is working here and as an elected official. It leaves it open, and there’s two salaries involved. So that’s something else that John said there’s going to be… Mr. Scott, I’ll explain that part of it. Mr. Kopp, We may have to… Mr. Scott, We’ve talked to all of those that we are bringing in, we’re bringing in all of the five township assessors. Not trustee assessors, five township assessors, and by law, they get their salary to the end of the year, and then whatever happens there with the Council and everything. And they’ve agreed to come in without any extra money being paid to them, like, you know, like you would have two jobs. But if this is what it says, then it would be up to the Council if you want to give them a dollar or $10 or whatever you want to do, that’s, that’s your scope of the job, not mine. But, like I said, they said they would come in for whatever the salary is that they’re working right now. Mrs. Conover, That’s commendable for them. Mr. Whitten, It is. Mrs. Conover, That’s very commendable. Mr. Scott, And like I said, they’re trying, under these circumstances, they’re trying very, very hard to make this thing work. They want it to work. Mrs. Conover, The transition, everybody is cooperating. Mr. Whitten, Will there be people working like for, or having individuals under them making more money than them? Mr. Scott, Yes. No. No, all of the, all of the township assessors, the five that are coming in will be making their full salary. Mr. Whitten, So you won’t have a supervisor with people under them making more money? Mr. Scott, No, the head supervisor over them is making less money. Mrs. LaFever, For this year. Mr. Scott, For this year. Mrs. LaFever, Unless the Council wants to do something. Mr. Scott, Next year we’ll go through the whole budget screening. We felt that if we try to do it now it would be such a… Mr. Poparad, Well, part of it is the fact, the elected official is going to get this salary whether you hired them or not. Mr. Scott, Exactly, and that’s why I said, this like Karen has said, that, that it’s very commendable that they, they’ve actually rolled over to help us do this, and to get this thing moving. And, I was going to leave two townships out until the end of the year, and they came in and they said they felt that they should come in when all those townships come in, because they didn’t want ill feelings between the ones that had to come in, and the ones that didn’t. Those are Liberty and Westchester. Mr. Poparad, Speaking of that pay issue. Did the AG definitively answer the remainder of their term question? Mr. Hollenbeck, No, they did not, and the DLGF… Mr. Poparad, Has that been posed to them? Mr. Hollenbeck, Then interpreted that failure to answer it as meaning that it was up to us. I’m not necessarily confident that’s true. Mr. Poparad, Well, can we write a letter? Can you write a letter to him and ask his opinion, then maybe by budget time we’ll know that. Mr. Hollenbeck, He clearly said they’re owed it through the end of the year. He didn’t address the issue through the end of their term. Mr. Poparad, Yeah, duck and weave. Mr. Hollenbeck, Yeah. But we need to get that clarified. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Anybody got any questions? You’re going to come back with all the figures at our next meeting about the transfers out of each township, etc, etc. Mr. Scott, Yes, between Jim and Shirley. Mr. Poparad, Yes, you guys will get that all worked out. Mr. Scott, Shirley’s already worked on a considerable amount of those budgets. Mr. Hollenbeck, And the other thing, another reason why they’re here now is that to the extent that any of this requires an additional appropriation, and I’m now hearing it may not. But to the extent that it does, when we were planning this, we needed to see this tonight… Mr. Poparad, Right. Mr. Hollenbeck, Because by June 6th, we’ve got to be putting additional appropriation notices in the paper for your June meeting. Mr. Poparad, But the State, whose telling you it’s called an appropriation transfer? The DLGF? Mr. Kopp, I talked to Tammy White. Mr. Hollenbeck, Yes, that’s an appropriation transfer. Mr. Kopp, We talked at the Auditor’s meeting. Mr. Hollenbeck, Appropriation transfer, guys, if you’ve ever been in the Army, is like saying over and out. Those two things are not the same. Mr. Poparad, Should we advertise anyway? Mr. Hollenbeck, I was going to say, it’s my recommendation that we do it both ways, then we’re covered. Mr. Poparad, Alright. You guys take care of that? Mr. Hollenbeck, I’ll work with the Auditor. Mr. Kopp, The State Board of Accounts said that they nor the DLGF really cared how it got done, just get it done. Mr. Poparad, Yeah, well. Mr. Whitten, Are we going to see like job descriptions and stuff at budget time? Do you anticipate that? Mrs. LaFever, At budget time, Dan. Mr. Scott, You know what, the thing about it is, this County does not have a human relations person to do that kind of stuff for us, nor a union, and we’ve been calling back and forth in other counties that do have those, and see how they’re handling it, to see if it would work for us, so. Mr. Poparad, Bill, you had a question. Mr. Carmichael, Have you figured the health insurance, anything the County supplies, has that been figured in this budget for those employees? Mrs. LaFever, It’s already, we have not got it in our budget. They’ve already got that this year, Bill. Mr. Carmichael, It’s already in there? Mrs. LaFever, It’s not in their budgets, I think it’s through the county commissioners. The township assessors and trustees. Mr. Carmichael, You might want to look at that. Mrs. LaFever, It’s not in their budgets. I know that. Mr. Scott, It would change next year. Mrs. LaFever, It’s in the county commissioners’ budget. Mr. Scott, I want to say something to this Council, and you tell me whether you feel that that’s a bad idea. But seeing that the State has decided that they wanted to put ten of our township assessors under me, or under anybody that would be sitting in this chair, I am going to be opposing the referendum for the other assessors when the time comes. I don’t believe that we need to have two outside, ten inside. I think everybody should be under one, one hit. So whatever we do now, then in the future, whoever comes into this office, because it won’t be me, but whoever comes into this office would have the full control of everything that’s in front of them. Mr. Carmichael, Well I’ll probably cancel your vote. Mr. Scott, Huh? Okay. Mr. Poparad, You’ve raised an issue, Bill. The township assessor/trustees do not get healthcare from this County. Bob, you got room? The trustee assessors do not get healthcare. If they’re coming in here, are they technically full-time? Mr. Hollenbeck, Well if he puts them in full-time positions. Mr. Bucko, If he puts them in full-time positions they would be. Mr. Poparad, Right, so there’s no money for their healthcare. Mr. Bucko, So it’ll be an additional… Mr. Poparad, So you’ll have to do an additional in the healthcare for how ever many it ends up. Mr. Carmichael, That’s right. Mr. Poparad, See, like the… Mrs. LaFever, I understand. Mr. Poparad, You see what I’m saying? Mrs. LaFever, I know what you are saying. Mr. Hollenbeck, But again, there are other parts of those budgets that we’re going to be able to absorb and get that money. Mr. Poparad, Right. Mrs. LaFever, Correct. Mr. Hollenbeck, Shirley and I have talked about that. Mrs. LaFever, Yes. Mr. Hollenbeck, And it’s, I think at worse a wash, and it may end up actually saving a few dollars. Not a lot. Mr. Poparad, Mike, you had a question. Mr. Bucko, I had one. Just a point of clarification on the blue portions where the E is. Is that an entry position, is that what the E stands for? Mrs. LaFever, No, those are elected officials. Mrs. Conover, Elected, alright. Mr. Bucko, Now I’ve got you. Okay. This could be a, how many of these, well, I guess you’ve got, we don’t have enough time to deal with this. I was just going to say, how many of these, either data entry positions or these other job descriptions have currently got job descriptions written for them? Mrs. LaFever, They. Mr. Scott, Five of them would be. I guess you got job descriptions for the township assessors. Mr. Bucko, I can’t remember if we had job descriptions for all the townships. Mr. Scott, They’re elected officials, I don’t think there’s a job description for them. Mrs. LaFever, Everything has changed so much, Mike, in the last few years with our job, they need to be rewritten. Mr. Bucko, Well, I know that, but that’s a point to start. Mr. Scott, Like I said, we’re working with townships, I mean counties that have… Mr. Bucko, Job descriptions. Mr. Scott, That had somebody that’s going through this process, you know, human relations people. Mr. Bucko, It would be a good way to start. Mr. Poparad, Okay, you’ll have all this stuff for our next meeting? Mrs. LaFever, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Let’s do an additional anyway, because that’s… Mrs. LaFever, You want me to do it as an additional, I’ll talk to Sheila. Mr. Poparad, Yes. Mr. Kopp, You want to do it as an additional or a transfer. Do you want to do a transfer or an additional. Mr. Poparad, I’ve got to go with Hollenbeck. Mr. Hollenbeck, Do it both ways. Mrs. LaFever, You want me to fill it out. Mr. Poparad, Yes, you guys work that all out. You guys have anymore questions? Mrs. Conover, I just wanted to… Mr. Bucko, What do we have to do tonight for his? Mr. Poparad, I don’t think we have to do anything. Mrs. Conover, Not tonight. Mr. Poparad, He just wanted to get this in front of us. Mrs. LaFever, What we’re asking for, Bob, tonight, is we want to bring the positions in to the County with the same pay that they’re receiving in the township. But we’ve got to send out letters, and we’ve got to tell these people that we’re offering jobs to, what their pay is going to be. So that’s what we’re asking you tonight, can we bring them in at the same pay that they are receiving in the township, yes or not? Mr. Carmichael moved to approve the elected township assessors’ salary at the same rate they are currently being paid, and accept the additional salaries of the new hires as proposed by the County Assessor. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Poparad, We’ve got a motion and a second for them to send out their letters. Let’s call the roll on this. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, But you need to caution them in their letter, especially, some of these elected officials that next year, this pay, we’re all going to sit down… Mrs. LaFever, Well we’re just answering… Mr. Scott, It would be whatever the Attorney General comes up with. Mrs. LaFever, What you guys decide. Mr. Scott, You see how he’s muddled the waters. Mr. Poparad, Right, but I mean, for example, you’ve got somebody at almost $36,000 sitting beside somebody at $23,000. Mrs. LaFever, We know, we’ve told them that, Bob. But we’re going to… Mr. Poparad, But I’m saying… Mr. Scott, They understand that and like I said… Mrs. LaFever, Budget time is a different ball game, they know that. Mr. Scott, They were really good about it, realizing that there would have to be a… Mr. Poparad, Correct. Mrs. LaFever, Yes. Mr. Poparad, I mean as long as they are aware of it. Mr. Scott, Yes, we’re going to try and figure it out, 1st deputy, 2nd deputy, 3rd, if possible. We, you know… Mrs. LaFever, We’ve told them all that. Mr. Scott, Just lump everybody together because some of them have some real good… Mr. Poparad, Is there anything else you need from us to facilitate this. Do you need somebody to move boxes? I know Rita is free this week. I mean you’ve got the forum here. Mrs. LaFever, Well I know IT… Mr. Scott, Your prayers would help… Mrs. LaFever, IT went in today… Mr. Scott, That we can get this thing done. Mrs. LaFever, And we… Mr. Scott, As quickly as we can.
Mr. Carmichael, John, the 144. Mr. Scott, Okay. Mr. Poparad, Because that’ll kick in July 1st. That’s what I was thinking about. Mrs. Conover, Thank you. Thank you, both, for the cooperation and that amongst the assessors. This was a huge, huge project. Mr. Scott, Well, it wouldn’t have worked without the other assessors. Mr. Poparad, Hold on a minute. Mike’s got a question. Mr. Bucko, A request. If your, when you’re out there and you are talking to people about job descriptions and everything else, either what they have or whatever, find out if any of them have a software package for job descriptions. Okay? I mean they’re out there. Just find out what the name of it is and everything else. If they are using it on a regular basis, it may help us now and in the future. Mrs. LaFever, Well we know people’s got human resources, which we do not. Mr. Scott, But they, but they may use this… Mr. Bucko, Find out if they’ve got job descriptions. A human resource person isn’t the issue right now. It’s a step in the right direction. Mr. Scott, Yes, okay. At this time, Mr. Hollenbeck left the meeting. Mrs. LaFever, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Mr. Poparad, Alright, let’s get back on track here.
CUSTOM MACHINING (CUSTOM CRIMP) Mr. Poparad, Custom Machining, Compliance with Statement of Benefits. Everybody have a chance to look at it? Jack Thompson, Okay, I asked Jan to put this in your packet, because we are not the machining company that we were when you granted our tax abatement. We are probably the dominant manufacturers of crimpers in the US at this point. When you granted the tax abatement, we had 27 employees, and we now have 50. We’ve added a million-dollars worth of manufacturing equipment, and 22,000 square foot of manufacturing space. Your tax abatement was a big help in getting that, and I’d request that you renew it. Mr. Poparad, Everybody look through the packet? What are we going for time wise? Mr. Carmichael, Ten years? Mr. Poparad, Ten more years? Five? Mr. Thompson, No, just the remainder. I think we’ve got five more years. Mr. Poparad, Five more. Yes, just five more. Mr. Carmichael moved to accept the Compliance with Statement of Benefits submitted by Custom Machining Services, now known as Custom Crimp. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, Thank you. Five more. Mr. Thompson, Thank you.
FAMILY EXPRESS Mr. Poparad, Okay, Family Express. Alright, what are we doing, same thing again? Monique Horn, Same thing again. The Family Express bakery, commissary, distribution center continues to grow as we add stores to the company, so it will be increased employees and production at that facility. And I don’t have the exact figures, but what we added this year, another $70,000 in equipment, and we’re just looking to go to the end of the original abatement period, that was ten years. Mr. Carmichael, Could you speak into the mic. Ms. Horn, Sorry. Mr. Poparad, We can hear you, but they can’t. Okay. Susan McElfresh, When we requested this… Mr. Poparad, Is this for five more years? Ms. Horn, I think it’s five or six more years. We started in ’04, is when we opened. Mr. Poparad, Yes, I think it’s five more. Okay, square donuts. Mrs. Conover, Yes. Ms. McElfresh, He’s right, there you go. Mrs. Conover moved to accept the Compliance with Statement of Benefits submitted by Family Express Corporation. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Poparad, We got a motion and a second, any discussion? You want square donuts; did you bring square donuts. Mr. Bucko, Yeah. Mr. Poparad, Wait a minute. Ms. McElfresh, I knew we should have. Mr. Poparad, I mean this guy brought us hydraulic hoses, okay. We’ve had popcorn. Mrs. Conover, Popcorn. Mr. Poparad, Alright, do we want to have this vote now; call the roll, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, Alright, thank you. Ms. Horn, Thank you. Ms. McElfresh, Thank you. Mr. Poparad, Thank you--should have brought the donuts. Mr. Whitten, Should have brought the gas. Mrs. Conover, Yeah, gas cards. Mr. Poparad, We didn’t have dinner yet.
CEDIT PROJECT #9 - 293.30 Mr. Poparad, Alright, CEDIT Project #9, an additional of $180,000. Will this complete the big books? Com. Bob Harper, Yes. Mr. Poparad, Promise? Com. Harper, Yes. Did everyone get the pictures? Mr. Poparad, Oh yeah. I want the tin boxes. Com. Harper, As many of you may know the Clerk’s office is in a real dilemma over storage and so forth, that’s why I’ve been trying to push this along. Many of these are stored upstairs in the courthouse in the Clerk’s office, many of these books. This will finish the job. I thought Sharon was going to be here tonight, but I will tell you this. There are three companies that do this, and I had her get three prices on this. One of them was way up priced, the other two were real close, and this is the one we used the last time for the big books. All the other scanning is being done by either that person we put into IT or the individual departments. Mr. Carmichael, What’s your timeline? Com. Harper, Oh, here’s what I think is the good thing about the timeline. Whatever the timeline is, as soon as you guys approve it, I think they’ll move the books to their, get them out and move them to their facility, and then when they get them done, they get them done. At least that’s what they did the last time. So as soon as you approve it, I am hopeful, I have to get a hold of Sharon and see if we can get these moved out of here as fast as possible. Mr. Bucko, Just, on that point for me, is it still a statutory requirement to keep paper? Com. Harper, Well, no. But the Clerk has to go through a procedure to get the, you know, we’ve even copied some that are now on the second floor, up in the Hazmat. The Clerk has got to go through the procedure once each year to get the order to destroy them. So it’s sort of yes and no. You know, we can get them destroyed after the Clerk gets the order. But right now that’s what we are trying to do is get them out of there so they’ve got room to store. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mrs. Stevenson, Certain books thought have to be kept for x-amount of years. Com. Harper, Yes. Mrs. Stevenson, Now once these are copied, they’re good to go. It’s like you said, she has to get permission. Com. Harper, Yes, permission. Once a year I think they do that. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by CEDIT Project #9 - 293.30, the amount of $180,000 to 0001 CEDIT Project #9. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
CEDIT Project #24 - 261.30 Mr. Poparad, We have an additional of $67,000 to Portage Adult Ed. I think we’ve talked about this at length. Lake County kicked in the money, and this would be the balance?
Com. Harper, They kicked in some money on that. You know, Portage Adult Ed, I think their operating budget--in fact, I was just looking through my papers--is about one-million-three, and the Portage School System has taken that on themselves, well not, some of their personnel has taken it on themselves to keep this program going. They service some 2,000 students a year. They have some amazing, they do the GED, plus the adult ed; 40% of those that finish the adult ed go onto college courses. They have some great luck. Mr. Poparad, Well no, you’ve got to realize, not to cut you off. But you’ve got to make sure that everybody is aware, all the Porter County schools pay their share. Com. Harper, Okay. Mr. Poparad, This is from the outside of Porter County schools that ain’t paying their share. Everybody in Porter County pays. Com. Harper, Well, everybody pays, but Portage does do a lot of work on this thing. So if you ever, here you’ve got these kids that don’t have a degree--a high school degree--they’ll go to jail, and they get them in the jail, they work them through this so they get the GED. It’s got to be economic development. Mr. Whitten, Absolutely. Com. Harper, Carole went to the graduation the other day. It’s really moving to see these kids get that done. Mr. Bucko, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, It’s about 500 a year. Com. Harper, Yes. Mr. Bucko, It’s well worth it. Com. Harper, Plus they service 2,000 with all the other things they do. Mr. Bucko, This is this year, but I think that, were they not looking at asking for a two-year, two years of support? Com. Harper, No, this is, I talked to Dr. Berta, and this will keep it going this year from what he tells me. Mr. Poparad, Yes, they are waiting on the legislators. Com. Harper, But do you know what’s happened? The Legislature, they keep thinking the Legislature is going to come through, but, you know, until they do, plus I think they are working on some other things too. So this is a one-year fix. I mean, I guess I would be the first to say if they need a second year fix, I would always be supportive of it to come back, and give them a chance to get them on their feet. Mr. Whitten, Yes, this closing down would be, quite frankly, disastrous. Rarely, do I find a week that goes by that I don’t encountered somebody, particularly, since this has been in the paper, that has graduated from this program, including my parents, quite frankly. So I think that it’s, it would just be absolutely disastrous if we lost this. Mr. Poparad, Is that a motion? Mr. Whitten, That’s a motion. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by CEDIT Project #24 - 261.30, the amount of $67,000 to 0001 CEDIT Project #24. Mrs. Conover seconded. Mrs. Conover, This is just a wonderful expenditure of economic development, and it’s a band-aid, and if we need to revisit this next year, we shall do so. Mr. Poparad, Any more questions? Comments? Mr. Carmichael, None. Mr. Poparad, Call the roll, please. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
COMMISSIONERS 01.30 Mr. Poparad, Alright, we have the Commissioners under the 01.30 budget, we have a transfer of $1,750 from Power to Appraisers. We have a transfer of 300, do you want to do them one at a time or do you want to do them all together? Mrs. Conover, Together is fine. Mr. Poparad, Okay, $338.95 from Power to Auto; 49.82 from Telephone to Auto; $25,238 from Power to Workmens Comp; $1,000 from Vet to Workmens Comp; 17,000 from Equipment to Workmens Comp; 30,000 from Water & Sewage to Workmens Comp, because we have workmens comp claims. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Commissioners 01.30, the amounts of, $1,750 from 3510 Power to 3977 Appraisers, $388.95 from 3510 Power to 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment, $49.82 from 3220 Telephone to 2320 Auto, Truck & Equipment, $25,238 from 3510 Power to 3430 Workmens Comp, $1,000 from 3160 Veterinary Services to 3430 Workmens Comp, $17,000 from 3710 Equipment to 3430 Workmens Comp and $30,000 from 3520 Water & Sewage to 3430 Workmens Comp. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.
MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE 158 Mr. Poparad, Memorial Opera House. Isn’t that under you, where are you going. Mr. Carmichael, There he is. Mr. Poparad, I know, but he left awful quick. Mrs. Stevenson, Hehehehe. Mr. Poparad, We have an additional for $20,000 to Hourly. Mr. Carmichael, That’s out of your 158 Fund? Brian Schafer, It is. Mr. Poparad, Okay, yes, I was going to say it’s your own money. I shouldn’t say, own money, but. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Memorial Opera House 158, the amount of $20,000 to 1120 Hourly. Mrs. Conover seconded. Mr. Bucko, Go see, Annie Get Your Gun. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Schafer, Thank you. Mr. Poparad, Alright. Did you see Annie Get Your Gun. Mr. Bucko, Annie Get Your Gun.
PLANNING/BUILDING DEPARTMENT 239 Mr. Poparad, Planning/Building, you’ve got an additional of $30,000 to attorneys. Mrs. Conover, Those government contracts. Mr. Whitten, None to me. Mr. Poparad, No, none down there. Mr. Whitten, It’s painful to see all these attorneys’ fees, and none of them are mine. Bob Thompson, In case anybody asks, I have a breakdown of the hours our attorney has worked this year. There are a number of pictures of zoning violation cases that they are working on this year. Mr. Poparad, How’s your fund running? Mr. Thompson, Good. Real quickly, more than half of the hours spent this year, the money spent this year has been on zoning cases where we’ve had a number of pictures attached, whether it’s illegal businesses in residential areas or accumulation of too much debris, and items on people’s properties. These are all in residentially zoned districts. Okay? So that’s the main bulk of what we are paying out the attorney fees, is zoning enforcement. Mr. Poparad, If, speaking of that. Okay, you fine them X. Mr. Thompson, We have collected so far on that, $4,500. Or we’ve been ordered by the, how do I say this. The judges have awarded us $4,500 so far this year on that, that has come back to us. Alright, and it goes into our fund, but not directly back into this line item. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Thompson, So I mean that’s just this year that we’ve been having that. Mr. Poparad, Will this last you the rest of the year? Mr. Thompson, I would hope so. I don’t know. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Carmichael, Question. Mr. Thompson, I mean last year I did have to come back in again. Mr. Bucko, Do you suspect an abundance, or maybe you had an abundance in the past, I don’t know that. I’m just, I don’t recall, but. Would you suspect that the funds or the judgments in our behalf might equal what you have to spend to get the judgments. To get, you know, to make it happen. What do you call them things, Lawyer? Mr. Whitten, Money well spent. Mr. Bucko, You know what I’m talking about. Mr. Poparad, The judgments, the liens? Mr. Whitten, Are you asking… Mr. Bucko, Are they forced to pay for the cost if we have to go through court? Mr. Poparad, Right, court costs. Mr. Whitten, You’re asking about attorney fees. Mr. Thompson, Litigations and stuff like that, that you have listed down there at the bottom, generally, we do ask for that. But it’s very rarely we will get awarded any money on litigation. Mr. Bucko, Rarely, do we get awarded. Mr. Thompson, Yes. It’s mainly with the municipal zoning enforcement that, if we had been in the, generally, when we get the awards for it, it’s usually, we’re in appearance in front of the judge, usually, it may be a third or even a fourth time before we finally get that awarded. Mr. Whitten, Yes, I don’t think it’s a cost benefit. Mr. Bucko, Are there any statutes or anything like that supporting anything? Mr. Whitten, I don’t think it’s a cost benefit analysis, unfortunately, when it comes to zoning enforcement. It’s almost like a cost of doing business. You’re trying to clean up the County. I think we look, and I understand what you are saying, Mike. But unfortunately, when you’re investing in attorney’s fees to do code enforcement, you’re not going to get a return on the money. It just doesn’t work that way. Judges are not particularly free with awarding attorney’s fees, you know, they don’t like to do that because they don’t like to quell litigants from coming and hiring attorneys of their own. Just all kinds of reasons. It’s not an investment tool, that’s for sure. Mr. Thompson, Yes. Quickly, I’ll go through the litigation that’s mentioned here. The Kovachevich case that’s at the top. The BZA and myself was sued for issuing a building permit in Center Township, for purposes of building the third Valparaiso Fire Department. That was done by a citizen. That was thrown out recently, out of court, dismissed. The Dauterman case that you see was a citizen that sued us, for the fact that they said we were not doing building inspections on their house. We were able to go in and prove that we were doing the building inspections on that, and the judge dismissed the case. The Liberty Land Owners, that’s with the Community Hospital that is going on currently right now. Miscellaneous, are a few things with the BZA that are going on, but we listed the top three litigations, because those are obviously the most dollars. Mr. Carmichael, The ’83 Master Plan. Mr. Thompson, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, I believe when that was adopted, all those businesses, those people that have a business in a residential area were grandfathered in. What’s happened to that? Is that still in effect? Are there businesses grandfathered in, in Porter County? Mr. Thompson, If they had a use variance and everything that were approved during the period of ’83 up to 2007, yes, we still honor those. What we tried to do in those situations, if they were zoned commercial and industrial, we kept them zoned commercial and industrial, unless they specifically requested it to change. Mr. Carmichael, Wait a minute. What’s the grandfather clause mean? Mr. Thompson, It means that it’s a legal non-conforming use. But, like I said, if they were, had a use variance or they were in business operation during that time, and they were legally established, we were honoring it. We were trying to honor it, yes. But we were… Mr. Carmichael, Well before you notify them of a violation, check it out. Mr. Thompson, We ask them. I mean if we’re not aware of the situation… Mr. Carmichael, They don’t know if they’ve been grandfathered in or not. Mr. Thompson, Well, that’s why we ask them to at least bring us some proof and talk to us about it. We do issue the letters and everything like that, but it’s mainly to get their attention to come and sit down and talk with us, and we talk to them about it. Mr. Carmichael, All this, apparent violations were taken care of in ’83 with the grandfather clause. Mr. Thompson, And if they come forward to us and say they were established prior to ’83, and that the Plan Commission grandfathered them in, we would give consideration to that, yes. Mr. Carmichael, When somebody turns in a violation, do you keep track of the individual who turns in the violations? Mr. Thompson, If they give us the name and the information, yes, we do. Mr. Carmichael, Do they do this by phone, or by letter, or by what? Mr. Thompson, It could be a number of situations. It could be by phone; it could be letter; it could come up through the commissioners’ office. It could come through a number of different offices. Mr. Carmichael, I feel in some of these cases you’re putting the people through a lot of pain that’s not necessary, because we’re a big governmental unit, we’re master over all. That’s baloney. Mr. Thompson, I guess looking at these… Mr. Carmichael, A private citizen has more rights than you and I have. Mr. Thompson, I guess looking at these pictures, I guess my question is, what about the rights of the people that live next door that are in residential areas. Mr. Carmichael, Well, was it there when they moved in? That’s a question to ask. When they moved in they changed the landscaping. It’s happened all over Porter County. People used to look at farmland, all of a sudden, you have subdivisions in the middle of farmland. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Planning/Building 239, the amount of $30,000 to 3110 Legal. Mr. Bucko, Could I ask one question first? Because I’m going to ask something about variances. When you have use variances, variances are for specific periods of time, they have to come in normally and renew them, unless there’s one other variance that I can’t remember. Mr. Thompson, Just, permanent use variance. Mr. Bucko, Permanent use, okay. Mr. Thompson, Back in the, under the ’83 Master Plan--it was just talked about--it’s a use variance which they granted it for just a temporary period of time, from either, up to a maximum of five years, then they can come in for renewals. We’ve changed that with that, and we’ve had to tell the Board of Zoning Appeals that if they are going to do it, it’s temporary, because the state statute only recognizes a permanent use variance, a use variance, period. If they grant a use variance, it’s permanent, unless they specifically state in their motion with the petitioner in agreement that they want to review it at a temporary period of time. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Dan, did you make a motion to approve? Mr. Whitten, Yes. Mrs. Stevenson seconded. Mr. Poparad, We’ve got a motion and a second. Any more questions? Any more discussion? Call the roll, please. Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Carmichael-NoConover-Yes Mr. Poparad, Doug, we’ve got a whole bunch of library people here, let’s get them up here. You guys don’t have to sit here. Doug, take a break. They’ve been sitting here all night. PORTER COUNTY LIBRARY CAPITAL PROJECT PLAN Mr. Poparad, Come on up all of you. Jim Cline, That’s alright, we just appreciate the opportunity to be here. Mr. Bucko, Well in that case, they can wait. At this point, the Councilmembers burst out in laughter.
Mr. Cline, I’m Jim Cline the Director of the Porter County Public Library System. I beg your pardon, I’m fighting sinus and a very sore throat, so my voice is not what it normally is. We do have board members here with us tonight: Bill Eckert and Gerrie Bowie, Darla Block and Judy Hanson, our administrative assistant, Sheila Minton, and the retired director of the Library, Don Johnson. Mr. Whitten, What’s the timeframe on like, what’s your thoughts and plan for like the Porter Township, 100 South library? I’ve had that question asked many times. Mr. Cline, That’s the first building we would build. And frankly, we’re close to having enough money to do it. But at this point in time, I’m not prepared to move on those plans with all that the State has done this year. I can’t build a building if I can’t operate the building, and while the capital projects would pay for the construction costs, it doesn’t allow me to pay for the materials that would need to go in there, or the staff, or the utilities. We’re looking at 2010 with the tax caps, facing a reduction in our operating budget of just under $300,000. So I need to wait and see how all that plays out before I’ll have a really good idea to give you as far as when that building could be built and operated. Mr. Whitten, I see. Mr. Cline, In the meantime, the money is not going to waste. The money in the capital projects fund is what we have borrowed from internally to operate the library while the tax payments are so far behind. It has saved us from going out to the banks or to the Indiana Bond Bank, so it has saved us all that interest by having that fund there. Mrs. Conover, So we won’t have to owe you any interest money this year, if we can work that out. Mr. Cline, No, ma’am, you would not. Mr. Whitten, See, our committee has already figured one out. Mr. Poparad, I’m glad you’re on top… Mr. Bucko, That’s okay, he was on mine, south on division. Mr. Poparad, I’m glad that you are on top of this 1% cap, because it is going to effect you guys, probably not in ’09, but definitely in ’10 or ’11. Mrs. Conover, Yes, it is. Mr. Cline, It effects us a little bit in ’09, but only like 30 or $40,000. In 2010 is when it really hits us. Mr. Poparad, That’s when the reality sets in. Mrs. Conover, Yeah. Mr. Whitten, That’s right.
Mr. Poparad, Okay, what do we need, just a motion to adopt the plan? Mr. Whitten moved to approve the Porter County Library Capital Projects Plan as submitted. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Poparad, Thank you. Mr. Cline, Thank you very much.
SHERIFF 01.05 Mr. Poparad, We have a transfer of $2,500 from Other Supplies to Physical and Psychology. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Sheriff 01.05, the amount of $2,500 from 2250 Other Supplies to 1370 Physical & Psychology Testing. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Poparad, The transfer is made. Thank you, Doug. Chief Deputy Doug Snider, Thank you.
PARKS OPERATING 127 Mr. Poparad, Parks Operating, we have an additional of $2,200 to Printing other than Office Supplies; $2,000 to Advertising; $1,740 to Event Expenses. Is this tourism money again? Ed Melendez, Yes, it is. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Parks Operating 127, the amounts of, $2,200 to 3310 Printing other than Office Supplies, $2,000 to 3340 Advertising and $1,740 to 3980 Event Expenses. Mrs. Stevenson seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Poparad, Thank you. Mr. Melendez, Thank you.
AUDITOR 01.02 Mr. Poparad, Auditor. We have an additional of $10,000 to Overtime; an additional $7,000 to Hourly; an additional $5,000 to Maintenance Agreements. Are we going to do these one at time or all together? Mrs. Stevenson, One at a time. Mr. Poparad, Okay, one at a time. Mr. Kopp, Okay, the $10,000 to Overtime, we’ve been getting the transfers done. The assessors have the annexation done, which we have not done. We have to get them done for the tax bills. Then as we are going through the tax bills, there is going to be time required to get the information to come over from the assessors, we don’t know what it’s going to be, but there will be a lot of time, I’m sure, getting the abstract and the budget and certified AV’s and TIF done, and that’s where the $10,000 comes from. Mrs. Conover, Jim, just for a point of discussion, is it all the communities that have not received their TIF’s or just a couple? Mr. Kopp, Just Valpo. Valpo’s got four TIF districts or five that’s got to be broken out. It’s not broken out in the computer system, so it’s got to be manually done. We worked on that today, we got CEDIT checks done, I hope they’re done tomorrow. Mrs. Conover, Okay. If it’s not done tomorrow, because they’re in their construction season, and I know he sent you a letter. If there is some kind of a glitch or hang up, he’s requesting that you bring to this body, that you’re able to relinquish at least half of… Mr. Kopp, I told him I would give them half tomorrow if we don’t get it done. Mrs. Conover, Okay. Alright, super. Thank you. Mr. Kopp, And I can do that without, because the settlement, technically, is done. Mrs. Conover, Right. Mr. Kopp, Just, we’ve got this one item. Mrs. Conover, Okay, thank you. Mrs. Stevenson, Are we going to do anything with that tonight, bring up the other? Mr. Poparad, The 10,000 for Overtime, how much is that for the year? Mr. Kopp, It’ll be 20 for the year. We started off with ten. Mr. Poparad, But you moved some from Salaries, right, in Overtime? Mr. Kopp, Yes, I moved 10,000. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mrs. Stevenson, And how much of that is left. Mr. Kopp, We’ve spent $9,600, I believe, 9,652.12. Mrs. Stevenson, Okay, at the last meeting, you stated, the last time, you stated that that would carry you through the summer, this 10,000. It’s not carried you through the summer. You haven’t made summer yet. Mr. Kopp, That’s right. Mrs. Stevenson, So what’s going on here? Mr. Kopp, We’ve had, uhm, several things going on. We put a lot of time into settlement. I don’t know specifically how many hours. We put time into transfers. Mr. Poparad, Well the splits and transfers should have been, that’s just part of normal business, right? Mr. Kopp, The transfers could not be done until after we got certain other things done, and so now we’re getting them done on a crisis basis. Mr. Poparad, Well yes, but let’s back up. Splits and transfers is a normal part of doing business. You quit doing that last year, because of the whole thing, and now we’ve got to catch up. Mr. Kopp, Uh huh. Mr. Poparad, We talked about it at our last meeting. What is the status on that? Where we at on that? Mr. Kopp, They’ll be done this week. Mr. Poparad, Okay.
Mr. Kopp, So will the annex… Mr. Kopp, And so will the annexations, I hope. Mr. Poparad, I guess my rhetorical question is: We keep spending overtime and consultants at the same time, and I, where does it stop, Jim, that’s what I’m asking.
Mr. Kopp, Well, to give you an example, Bob. Our chief accounting deputy has put in 161 hours of overtime. Last year we spent about $8,000 with Cender, getting the CAR report done. This year, she’s done part of it on regular time. She does have $3,000 of overtime, but it is also loaded in the computer now, so the computer will spit it out next year. Theoretically, if they don’t change the program or the layout, much quicker that it’s done this year, so. Christine has worked on, that’s number two, she’s been doing TIF, abstract errors, neutralization errors, a little bit of conservancy districts, and the Valpo homestead refund has taken a considerable amount of the. Mr. Poparad, Now this Overtime, this is not overtime already accumulated? Mr. Kopp, No. Mr. Poparad, So therefore, we don’t owe anybody out of this $10,000? Mr. Kopp, We don’t owe anybody. Mr. Poparad, So if we said, no, nothing would change. It’s not like we owe Lindy any money. Mr. Kopp, No, we don’t. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mrs. Stevenson, And you already have 20,000 sitting out there once the State approves it, you’ll have that 20,000 for Overtime. Mr. Kopp, No, I think it’s ten, and we’re going to give that back to the salary fund. I’ll transfer it back to the Salaries. Mr. Poparad, If we took that, this is based on some information Rita has, we took 10,000 from Salaries, why don’t we go ahead and take the 12 from Salaries and move it, and not do any additional. Mrs. Stevenson, From that extra position that you have. Mr. Poparad, From that extra spot you haven’t filled. Mr. Kopp, I don’t have a problem with that. Mr. Bucko, Why not, it’s an unfilled spot. It’s money that’s there. Mr. Poparad, That’s money that’s there, it zeros out that budget item too, instead of having an open salary spot. I’m just throwing this out for suggestion. Mrs. Stevenson, But you told me March 20th that the $10,000 should carry you through the summer. So, with this 12,000, what are you going to try and, how long is this going to last. I know you can’t foresee, but. At this time, Mr. Poparad left the meeting.
Mr. Kopp, I, we’re trying to get the Hamer system online in the next five to six weeks. Sharon Lippens and I would like to bill the tax bills on the Hamer system, the provisional tax bills. It depends if we can get it running, if Jim Murphy will use it. If we don’t get it running, we’re still going to try to get running to receipt money, but that means we’ve got to get everything in balance. We have to get our settlement in balance. Mr. Kopp, So Rita, your suggestion is to take the 10,000 and just move it from that 12,000? Mrs. Stevenson, Take the whole 12,000. Mr. Bucko, Take the 12,000 and zero the dollar amount in that line item. Mrs. Stevenson, Correct. Mr. Whitten moved to transfer $12,000 from 1110 Salaries, left in the vacant position of Counter Deputy, and transfer it to 1130 Overtime. Mrs. Stevenson second, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Whitten, Now this $5,000, this is Maintenance Agreements, software, things of that nature, just increased costs. Mr. Kopp, Yes, RDS is about $3,500 of that. Mr. Whitten, Fine, I make a motion to approve it. Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02, the amount of $5,000 to 3610 Maintenance Agreements. Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Carmichael, Question. Mr. Kopp, Yes. Mr. Carmichael, Has Hamer been approved by the State of Indiana? Mr. Kopp, Hamer is scheduled for test October 1st with the State of Indiana. Mr. Whitten, Isn’t that unbelievable. Mr. Carmichael, Say what now? Mr. Kopp, Hamer is scheduled to be tested October 1st with the State of Indiana. Mrs. Conover, What a joke. Mr. Carmichael, But they’re not certified yet? Mr. Kopp, No, no one is. Mr. Bucko, No one is. At this point, Mr. Poparad rejoined the meeting. Mr. Carmichael, What happens if they don’t certify it? Mr. Poparad, We close like the town in California just did. Mr. Whitten, We’re in bad shape. Mr. Kopp, It’s probably going to take, and I, I’m just talking what I think. I don’t think anyone is going to get certified for a year, because they don’t know what they’re certifying, and until they figure out what they’re certifying, nothing’s going to happen. If they go through the testing, Hamer and several others are at least showing people what it does, what it’s supposed to do today. But they don’t have formulas telling us how to do other things that we could even put in to start doing. Mr. Whitten, I think we’ve established the State is a mess. Call the question, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Poparad, On the? I’m sorry I missed it, the second additional? Mr. Carmichael, The motion has been made and seconded, ready to go. Call the roll, please. Mr. Kopp, Okay, this is for the $5,000. Mr. Poparad, The seven. Mr. Bucko, No, the 5,000. We skipped the seven. Mr. Poparad, We skipped the seven, okay. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Kopp, Now we’ve got the seven. Mr. Poparad, Okay, we skipped the seven for? Because I wasn’t here? Mr. Kopp, That’s, I started to talk about the seven. Mr. Whitten, I just wanted to knock the easy one off. So the $7,000, we just moved 12,000, right? So that’s, you only wanted ten up there, so that’s 12, you got 2,000-something, right? Mr. Kopp, Well, yes, I, what I, with the 7,000 I’m asking for, I’ve spent 3,500, roughly, on the tax checks. So that’s 3,500, and the other 3,500 I want to start using, that’ll get me, 320 hours roughly to start finding the $500,000. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Bucko, And the Hourly is for your part-time people to find that 500,000. Mr. Kopp, Yes, I think she’s at 10.50 an hour, I’m not positive. Mr. Poparad, Questions? Motion? Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Auditor 01.02,s the amount of $7,000 to 1120 Hourly. Mr. Poparad Second? Mr. Bucko seconded. Mr. Poparad, We got a second. Mr. Whitten, That was uncomfortable. Mr. Poparad, Okay, any discussion? I mean we… Mr. Bucko, You’ve already spent 3,500 of the seven already? Mr. Kopp, I’ve spent 3,500. Well I’ve got overtime, or a, uh, a part-time budget, but I had the part-time person doing this work that was not in that budget. I have a part-time budget of. Mr. Bucko, I’ve got to pull my sleeves up to hear that again; I’m sorry. Mr. Kopp, I have a part-time budget of about $20,000, and I’m guessing at 20. We have expended $3,500 of that, give or take on the homestead checks, which is outside the scope of what that budget is supposed to provided. So I’ve spent more money to date than is allotted to be spent, basically, on my part-time budget. Mr. Bucko, So you’re planning on, well, 3,500 has got to go to your part-time, to your other budget. Mr. Kopp, That, it goes in the part-time budget, but yes, it’s got to replace money I’ve spent that was not budgeted. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Bucko, So what do we do. Personally, it makes more sense to me to give him $3,500 in Hourly, and then we make the correction for, no. Mr. Poparad, Wait a minute, how much is in Hourly right now? Mrs. Wilson, Can’t get into the computer. Mr. Poparad, Okay, I’m going to throw out for discussion, we deny this request until he runs out of money in Hourly, then come back. I mean you’ve got money in Hourly, use it up. If you need 3,500 to do these checks, then fine, then come back in three months. I mean we’re granting money on something that may not cost as much, etc, etc. Call the roll. Mr. Bucko, How much did she say was in it? Mr. Poparad, She can’t tell. Call the roll. Mr. Kopp, The computer’s locked up. Ms. Noll, There’s a balance of $8,600 in there. Mrs. Stevenson, How much? Ms. Noll, 8,600. Mr. Poparad, Call the roll, please. Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
Whitten-NoBucko-No Mr. Poparad, Motion fails. Thank you, Jim. Mr. Kopp, Okay. Oh, I’ve got one more thing. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Mr. Kopp, We’re going to try to pay off, well, Dave didn’t talk about tax anticipation warrants. We need to get tax anticipation warrants passed, so we can get some for this year. I thought he was going to do that tonight. We still owe $4,000,000 from last year, plus I owe a million to the Highway, which we’re paying back or have paid back, that we used to help the Health Department, but I need to know where you want to take the interest from for the tax anticipation warrants from last year that we’ll be paying off. Mr. Whitten, How much is it? Mr. Kopp, I don’t know, they were supposed to call me today, and they did not. I’m guessing $200,000. Mr. Poparad, Normally, we just take it from the general fund. Mr. Kopp, You took it from interest last time, that’s why I’m asking the question. Mr. Poparad, Interest of what?
Mr. Kopp, The hospital money. Mr. Bucko, No, no. Mr. Kopp, Unless you paid it. Mr. Poparad, Nope. Mr. Kopp, Okay. Mr. Poparad, Just take it out of the general fund. Mr. Kopp, Alright, so we’ll ask for whatever it is the next time. Mr. Poparad, Yep. Mr. Kopp, From the general fund. Mr. Poparad, Alright. Mr. Kopp, Now the other thing is, the gas is expensive, I don’t know if we’re going to make to end of the year. It depends on what the price does, but we’re almost $40,000 last month on gas. Mrs. Conover, In one month. Mr. Whitten, It’s going to get worse.
COUNCIL CASINO 234 Mr. Poparad, Alright. We have an additional for the Longevity of $159,000. Mr. Carmichael moved to grant the request for additional appropriations submitted by Council Casino 234, the amount of $159,000 to 1241. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote.
SUPERIOR COURT 3 - 01.38 Mr. Poparad, Superior Court, a transfer of $400 from maintenance to… Mr. Whitten moved to grant the request for transfer of funds submitted by Superior Court 3 - 01.38, the amount of $400 from 3630 Equipment other than Vehicles to Office Equipment over $100. Mr. Bucko seconded, motion carried on a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Poparad, Motion carries. BUDGET MEMO & DISCUSSION Mr. Poparad, The Library is done. Budget memo and discussion. We’re still working on this whole… Mrs. Conover, Mess. Mr. Poparad, I’ll send out a letter or something. Any kind of suggestions, start piling them into Jan. My initial thought was, the governmental units, figure out the magic formula and send us a cover letter with their budgets. We’d bust it up to where Mike has ten, Bill has ten, and everybody just gives a verbal, take a look at them. We have to hold a public hearing, it appears. I would like to do that rather expeditiously, like ten or twenty a night. I mean we’re not going to, I’m not going to sit here and go through the City of Valpo’s budget. If they’re meeting the growth formula, that’s it. If they’re over, I mean I don’t know if we logistically can do any of this. Mr. Carmichael, We’re just advisory. Mr. Poparad, Exactly, but we have to hold a public hearing, and allow the public… Mrs. Conover, And we make non-binding suggestions. Mr. Poparad, Non-binding recommendations. Yeah, that’s terrific, you’ve got to love the Statehouse. So I’ll send out something. Let’s all have a hug. Hollenbeck had nothing to report; he had to go away for his thing. Second reading, please. SECOND READING Mr. Bucko moved to approve Second Reading. Mrs. Conover seconded, motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. ANY OTHER MATTER Mr. Poparad, Okay, I have one more thing. The IACC Conference, I can’t go. Jan will go on our behalf, if we’re so inclined to send her. Mr. Bucko, What’s that? Mr. Poparad, The Counties, June 14th, that one tax thing. Mrs. Stevenson, I’m going also. Mr. Poparad, Rita’s going also. Mr. Bucko, I’m going. Mrs. Conover, That’s plenty. Mr. Poparad, Jan, do we need Jan to go or not? Mrs. Conover, Well if you two are going. Mr. Bucko, That’s fine. Mrs. Conover, Or do you want to go, Jan? Ms. Noll, I’m going either way. Mr. Poparad, Well she needs, we need to okay her going. Mrs. Conover, Okay, we’ll let her go. Mr. Bucko, I don’t think it’s a matter of… Mrs. Conover, She should go. Mr. Bucko, Who should or how many. Mr. Poparad, No, but if we have to pay for her, we have to okay paying for her. Mrs. Conover, Okay. Mr. Poparad, We’re all welcome to go. Mr. Bucko, It’s something that I think is a very important thing to know and understand. Mrs. Stevenson, Exactly. Mr. Bucko, If you can’t go, and your job and things allow you to go, you know, you should go. Mr. Poparad, Okay. Jan, you can go if you want. Ms. Noll, Thank you.
Mr. Poparad, Anything else? Anybody? Lindy? Mr. Poparad, That seems to be a moving target. Jan, where did that end up? Ms. Noll, I’m sorry, what? Mr. Poparad, The Undercover, to get the money into the Prosecutor’s? Ms. Noll, You have to a reduction appropriation from the Casino money… Mr. Poparad, Right, from the Casino money, then do an additional at the same time. Mrs. Wilson, You guys already approved that to get the money. Mr. Poparad, Yes, but we’ve got to go through appropriation reduction and an additional all at the same time at our next meeting. Alright? Mrs. Wilson, Thank you. Mr. Poparad, I need a motion to adjourn. There being no further discussion, meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
Michael Bucko Attest: James Kopp, Auditor |
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May 27, 2008