October 2010 Council Meeting Notes

Note: These are my personal notes from the council meeting. They are NOT the official minutes, nor should they be construed as an official record of any kind.

Boone County Council
10/12/2010
Present: All Council Members, Secretary Heather Barton
The council approved the minutes of the September meeting.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:
Area Plan Commission (Rachel Whittington)
Requested $5000 from planner to litigation to cover expected costs for the remainder of the year, and $200 from planner to vehicle expenses. Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:
Superior Court II (no one present)
Requested $12,260 for pauper attorneys to cover costs related to Chamarro murder trial. Approved.

Community Corrections (no one present)
Requested $20,000 to GPS tracking and $6,000 to SleepTime to cover increased usage. Approved.

Cum Capital Development (Mike Martin)
Requested $10,800 to replace a compressor on one of the courthouse AC units. The current budget covered this expense, but will not have enough left to pay for other projects already scheduled. The council discussed and asked several questions about the possibility of holding off this move to replenish the fund. Approved.

The council also approved the purchase of a laptop for the Auditor’s office from the CCD fund, as discussed last month.

NEW BUSINESS:
Cindy Murphy of the Health Department requested a new fund be established to receive grant moneys for a vaccination program funded by state grant money. All the money will be spent and reimbursement requested by the end of the year. When the program is over and reimbursement made, the fund balance should be zero. Approved.

Ms. Murphy also raised the issue of using personal credit cards to cover unanticipated expenses, such as in the case of the chicken pox outbreak. President Jacob advised that that was an issue to be addressed by the Commissioners.

Dennis Dunlap, recently hired by the Commissioners for consulting on Human Resources issues, discussed the mechanics of a county hiring freeze, as well as county owned vehicles and cell phone usage. Mr. Dunlap presented a draft procedure for filling open positions, which was created at the request of the council and commissioners. A great deal of discussion followed as to the timeliness of filling vacancies under the procedure – which would require approval of the council and commissioners – particularly for jailers and communications officers. There was some disagreement on the council as to the propriety of requiring department heads to ask permission to fill vacancies in positions approved in the annual budget. The council directed Mr. Dunlap and council members Wilhoite and Thompson to discuss its comments with the commissioners and report back next month, preferably with an ordinance ready for adoption.
Mr. Dunlap also presented proposed additions to the employee handbook regarding vehicle and cell phone use which would meet IRS requirements. A recent self-audit revealed some gaps in policy which could have led to fines and/or penalties for the county or employees, and these policies will correct those omissions.

County Attorney Bob Clutter and Brian Colton from Umbaugh presented options on several bonding issues. The county’s current lease of E-911 equipment (w/10 years remaining) costs roughly $276,000 per year; in light of current interest rates, Umbaugh suggested we consider refunding the lease through a bond issue. This would save the county approximately $30,000/year, nearly $300,000 over the next ten years. After much discussion, the council approved moving ahead with the preliminary ordinance to issue the bonds. A public hearing will be conducted at next month’s council meeting, after which the council will vote on a finalized ordinance (with specific numbers).

Mr. Colton also presented numbers on the possibility of issuing General Obligation bonds for capital equipment purchases, ostensibly for the highway department. The council discussed the various options and numbers for 1-, 2- and 5-year bonds at different funding levels. While the information was helpful in assessing options for current and future needs, the council consensus was that no further bonding would be addressed at this time.

The council signed the Solid Waste District’s budget as approved at a previous meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:
None.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
President Jacob updated the council on information he had gathered from the recent Association of Indiana Counties state conference.

Tom Kouns provided documentation of receipts from the Indiana DOT of reimbursement into the Economic Development Fund for the extension of CR 400 S.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30.

The council convened a meeting for the purpose of approving the 2011 budget. There was some discussion of the salary ordinance, including a pair of part-time clerical positions in the Circuit Court, but no changes were made. The council did vote to remove the county’s $5,000 contribution to the Circuit Court Judge’s salary, effective January 1 of 2011. (When the state took over judges’ salaries, counties were given the option of supplementing those salaries up to $5,000, which Boone County did for all three judges. As budgets tightened, the council discussed removing this “bonus,” but did not want to give our judges what would effectively be a $5,000 pay cut. As Circuit Court Judge Steve David has recently been appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court, a new judge will be filling that position. The council removed the supplemental for that new judge, but is leaving it in place for the other two sitting judges.) The council approved the salary ordinance and then the 2011 budget in total.
The approved county budget for 2011 is $13,182,255, a reduction of just over 8% from the 2010 approved budget, which itself was more than 8% less than 2009’s. The budget gives no increase in salary to county employees for the second consecutive year, but neither does it reduce salaries or cut any county positions. To achieve this result, the council removed $1.85 Million from the sheriff’s general fund budget to fund salaries for jailers and deputies. That money will be drawn from the county’s Rainy Day Fund for 2011.

October 2010 Council Agenda

BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL
BUSINESS AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 12, 2010
LOCATION: CONNIE LAMAR MEETING ROOM, ROOM 105
116 W Washington St
Lebanon, IN 46052


Call meeting to order – 8:30 a.m.

Approval of September 2010 Minutes

Re-Appropriation Requests:
Area Plan

Additional Requests:
Superior Court II, Community Corrections, CCD

New Business:
Dennis Dunlap, Dunlap Consulting Group – Hiring Freeze, County Owned Vehicles and Cell Phones

Cindy Murphy – New Fund

Brian Colton, Umbaugh – Bonding Options

Bob Clutter, County Attorney & Ice Miller – General Obligation Bonds of 2010 & General Obligation Refund Bonds of 2010

Approval of Solid Waste 2011 Budget – Sign

Old Business:
Jeff Wolfe, Commissioner – Cum Hospital Fund

Public Comment:

Document Signing:
Re-Appropriations, Additionals, September 2010 Council Minutes

Adjournment

Budget Adoption Meeting will follow regular Council meeting.

This agenda is subject to change.