Notes -- November 2010 Council Meeting

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
11/9/2010
Present: All Council Members except Debby Shubert, Secretary Heather Barton
The council approved the minutes of the October meeting.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS: (all approved)
Sheriff (Ken Campbell):
Requested just over $40 from two different lines to cover photography expenses.

Prosecutor (Todd Meyer):
Requested shifts totaling $2400 from two different funds (Witness & Deposition and Trial Expense) to boost funds in three other lines: extradition $1200, library $700, travel $500. Also requested $5000 from witness & deposition to a new line, Capital Litigation.

Superior Court II (no one present):
Requested $500 from med/psych to library. Prosecutor Meyer fielded questions about the library expenses requested by his office and two of the three courts.

Circuit Court (no one present):
Requested $1000 from equipment repairs to library.

Highway (Rick Carney):
Requested $5000 for road striping and $15000 for calcium chloride, both out of the new equipment line. A truck originally planned for purchase has been deferred.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:
Auditor (Melody Price):
Requested $16,030 to the tax sale line to pay GUTS for parcels scheduled for sale. When the parcels sell, the money will be reimbursed to the general fund. The council asked several questions about the possibility of budgeting a set amount for this line in future years rather than having an additional, as well as about the county doing the tax sale work itself rather than contracting to GUTS . Approved.

Highway (Rick Carney):
Requested $30,000 to Equipment Repair. Approved.

Commissioners (Jeff Wolfe):
Requested $113,000 out of CCD for an updated boiler and lighting to increase energy efficiency. Commissioner Wolfe noted that some related claims of $28,000 had already been taken out of CCD, so the requested total could be reduced correspondingly. All but roughly $1500 of this cost will be reimbursed through a federal grant. (The lighting program alone was projected to repay itself in energy savings in three years, even before the grant was applied for and approved.) Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:
Dennis Dunlap was present again for an update on cell phone and vehicle usage policies. They underwent only minor changes in the past month. The policy for filling vacancies has been amended to remove the proposed preference for internal applicants. Council member Gene Thompson made several comments about the feasibility of having department heads submit requests to both the council and commissioners, as well as about the exception for the sheriff’s department (jail correction officers). Sheriff Campbell again explained the process he goes through for hiring officers, and why he believed the delay in starting that process justified the exception. Council Member Marcia Wilhoite suggested that the exception be removed so that the policy would be applicable to all employees and the sheriff’s needs be dealt with as they arose. A great deal of further discussion followed on the wording of the policy, the exception, the role of the council in the process, and whether separate policies needed to be adopted for new positions as opposed to replacement hires in existing positions. In the end, the council advised Mr. Dunlap to return to the commissioners with the policy referencing only replacement hires and removing the council from that process, as well as retaining the sheriff’s exception.

Ehran Binghaman of IndyConnect, Central Indiana’s Transportation Initiative, presented an update on the revised draft of their proposed regional transportation update. (More information at www.indyconnect.org. Check it out.)

Bob Clutter, county attorney, was present for the advertised public hearing regarding refinancing the E-911 lease through issuance of new 10-year bonds. This change will save the county roughly $25,000/year on average for the next ten years, which is the remaining length of the original lease. The bonds should be issued and the lease paid off by the end of the year, with the first bond payments in January 2011. The council approved the ordinance.

Cindy Poore, deputy auditor, requested the council amend the 2010 salary ordinance to reflect hourly breakdowns of total salaries, as is in place for 2011. The council approved the amendment.

Charlotte Beck, owner of the Key Bank building, addressed the council. Ms. Beck was concerned by a recent story in the Lebanon Reporter concerning the prosecutor’s office’s plan to move its child support division to the south side of the square, two buildings down from her building. Ms. Beck objected to the proposal to run a fiber optic line from her building’s second floor (where the county’s probation department is housed) to the prosecutor’s division, and was concerned that the portrayal of her objections in the news story was inaccurate and questioned her integrity. After detailing the attractiveness of her building’s location and amenities, Ms. Beck asked that the county consider purchasing the building for future use.

OLD BUSINESS:
None.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Dax Norton of the EDC, updated the council on upcoming projects in Zionsville and in the Lebanon Business Park, including a possible lead on filling on one of the empty buildings there. Early 2011 concerns include adding building space to the county’s development inventory. Norton also expressed concern that the incoming federal legislature is discussing cutting community development grant funding for rural communities, which would affect several Boone County communities.

Council member Thompson asked for clarification next month from the auditor’s and clerk’s office regarding the recent reimbursement from the federal government of roughly $400,000 relating to the county’s emergency purchase of voting machines several years ago. When related loans are paid off, the county has a balance of nearly $200,000 in the receiving line, which can only be used for federal election-related expense. Thompson asked if there were any expenses from last week’s election which could be paid from that fund, rather than wait until the 2012 elections.

Thompson also asked that the monthly financial statements the council receives be run as of the end of the preceding month.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 10:40.

Council Agenda -- November 2010

BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL
BUSINESS AGENDA FOR NOVEMBER 9, 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 October 2010 Minutes and 2011 Budget Adoption

Re-Appropriation Requests:
Sheriff, Prosecutor, Superior II, Circuit Court, Highway

Additional Requests:
Auditor, Highway, CCD

New Business:
Dennis Dunlap, Dunlap Consulting Group – Hiring Freeze, County Owned Vehicles and Cell Phones
Representative for Indy Connect Initiative
Bob Clutter, County Attorney – Appropriation Ordinance to Refund E-911 Lease
Amend 2010 Salary Ordinance

Old Business:

Public Comment:

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

Adjournment

This agenda is subject to change.