Boone County Council
5/09/2012
Present: All Council Members present.
The
council delayed approval of the minutes of the April meeting, as they had not
been distributed prior to the meeting.
Kay
Martin, Director of the Lebanon Public Library, addressed the Council regarding
the State Library’s recent directive to alter the make-up of the library’s
board. The state has decided that
because the library serves both Lebanon and Ulen (two municipalities), the city
no longer gets to appoint members to the board, but rather its two appointments
should be allotted to the County Council and County Commissioners. The library board and the city council both
asked that the County Council (re-)appoint Karen Galvin to complete her term,
which we did.
RE-APPROPRIATIONS:
Circuit
Court (no one present):Council approved transfer of $35 to Library.
ADDITIONAL
APPROPRIATIONS:
Auditor
(no one present):Requested $35,000 for data maintenance. As no one from the Auditor’s office was present, the council tabled the request, but later took up discussion and asked questions about the overlap of the new contract with the old. Commissioner Jeff Wolfe stated that the CYMA software contract (discussed at a previous meeting) has been signed, with plans to begin the changeover between the two systems in July. Eventually, Eric Goodnight of GUTS, which will be installing the software and training auditor’s office staff, arrived to answer questions. Eventually, the Council moved to approve half the request ($17,500) from the Auditor’s general fund budget, with a plan to pull the other half from the CCD fund IT budget if that works with the current contractual commitments.
Sheriff
(Ken Campbell):
Requested
roughly $7500 to be transferred into three different lines (deputies, jailers,
contractual services) to compensate deputies for their roles in providing
additional security at Indy Executive Airport during the Super Bowl. The airport paid Hamilton County (which owns
the airport and split the security coverage), and Hamilton County then paid
into Boone County’s general fund.
Several questions were asked as to whether the amount paid to the
deputies ($40/hour) included the county’s contributions to FICA, retirement and
other withholding. As best we could
determine without the auditor’s office being present to answer questions, it
did not. (Had the deputies been paid
directly by the airport or by Hamilton County as contractors, those
contributions would have been their responsibility.) While no one is happy at being stuck with
these extra expenses totaling nearly $700, we felt that the deputies should be
paid and we would try to avoid such a situation in the future. Approved.
Requested
$103,000 in transfer of grant funds from a county corrections grant. This is money in, money out. Approved.
Requested
transfers of just over $900 from the General Fund to specific funds such as
medical, postage and inmate supplies, all of which had been received as
reimbursements. Approved.
Jail
Maintenance/CCD (Sheriff Campbell):
Requested
transfer of $65 into Other Supplies from sale of recovered cooking oil. Approved.
Commissioners
(Rick Carney/Jeff Wolfe):
Requested
$47,000 to construct a storage building for the mandatory over-purchase of
salt, as discussed at our previous meeting.
There was some discussion as to whether building a temporary structure
would be more appropriate, but Carney stated that he already was in need of
additional space for a variety of reasons.
Carney also noted that the City of Lebanon had recently turned down a
request by the state to build a similar temporary structure. Approved.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Auditor
Melody Price was not present to discuss the financial report, so the council
passed over that item.
Health
Department Director Cindy Murphy presented the council with her department’s
annual public health report summary.
Some items I found particularly interesting: the county registered 429 new births in the
county, including 7 home births. There
were zero home births registered in the county in 2010. The department administered 2,413
immunizations, largely to students in the county’s schools. The department issued 1,012 birth
certificates, and 2, 873 death certificates.
For every death certificate issued, $1.75 goes into the Coroner’s Fund
for education. Ms. Murphy stated that
she expected that fee transfer might increase in the next couple of years. I requested that this summary be made
available online.
Ms.
Murphy also shared the recently-released County Health Rankings from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, which noted Boone County as the second-ranked county
in the state. (Murphy also noted that
the state of Indiana itself ranks low nationally.) Detailed information can be found at countyhealthrankings.org. While the overall ranking is impressive, some
of the detailed factors remain very concerning.
For instance, Boone County has an excellent (relative) ranking in
income, unemployment, education, health care providers and healthcare facilities,
but scored poorly in categories such as obesity (30%), smoking (20%) and
inadequate social support (17%). And
while our score in the “children in poverty” is lower than the Indiana average
of 22%, it’s still – to me – unacceptable at 10%.
OLD
BUSINESS:
I
updated the council on the progress of the Courthouse Centennial celebration. I
was appointed last summer to coordinate the county’s recognition of our
courthouse’s 100th birthday.
That committee has been meeting regularly since late 2011, with plans
underway for displays throughout the county’s libraries, as well as in the
courthouse and other municipal buildings.
I am chairing the committee, with Judge Rebecca McClure serving as
vice-chair. In addition to individual
volunteers, the committee includes representatives of the county bar
association, the Lebanon Public Library, the Boone County Historical Society
and Lebanon’s Fourth of July Celebration Committee. The culminating celebration will take place
on July 4th, 2012, including an entry in the Lebanon parade and
historical tours of the courthouse throughout the day. A celebration ceremony, including music, will
begin at 4:30.
Gene
Thompson introduced a motion he has discussed at the past several
meetings. Thompson summarized the recent
history of discussions regarding the bridge between the County Commissioners
and the Town of Zionsville, as well as the County Council’s role in overseeing
funding of the project. The
Commissioners last month broke off discussions with the town regarding possible
widening of the bridge and altering the 90-degree curve directly south of it
and called a special meeting in which they voted 2-1 to end discussions and
move forward with the current bridge and curve plan with no modifications. Thompson’s motion was to “take the necessary
steps to remove all funding associated with the Bridge #220 project until such
time that the County Commissioners, the Zionsville Town Council and INDOT have
reached a consensus on a plan that will lead to the completion of this bridge
and transportation project.” Elizabeth
Hopper of the Zionsville Town Council read a prepared statement which reported
her disappointment in Commissioner Applegate’s “complete disregard” for the
wishes of the Town Council in terms of the widening of the bridge and the
straightening of the curve. Hopper
requested, on behalf of the town, that the dialogue be re-opened before moving
forward with construction. Council
President Steve Jacob noted that he had received information from the
engineering firm hired jointly by the town and the county which stated that the
steel truss bridge could in fact be widened, and his hope that such information
would be useful in moving discussions forward.
Ms. Hopper stated that she would favor that discussion, and believes the
steel truss bridge frame could be widened four feet, which would satisfy the
town’s concerns. Hopper answered several
questions about the capacity and safety of the bridge, as well its relation to
the curve. After extensive discussion by
council members and clarifications from Ms. Hopper, Zionsville Town Council
Member Susanna Suarez and County Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, I expressed my
disappointment that the discussions had ended and my hope that they would be
re-engaged. I seconded the motion, which
carried unanimously.
PUBLIC
COMMENT:
Zionsville
resident and former county commissioner Wendy Brandt addressed the council,
reminding us of the history of the bridge discussion, and also pointed out that
a lawsuit is currently underway in Madison County in which the county council
de-funded a decision made by the county commissioner regarding staffing. Ms. Brandt went on at length regarding her
opposition to the council’s action, and her support for the commissioners’
latest actions.
Sam
Sutphin, 6601 E 96th Street – the curve in question south of Bridge
#220 – addressed the council, including complimenting Highway Superintendent
Rick Carney and his crew on their handling of the very difficult traffic
situation during construction along 96th Street. Mr. Sutphin expressed his desire for a
consensus to be reached among the various parties interested in the
bridge/curve project. He also expressed
his view that the steel truss bridge would be adequate, but agreed with Mr.
Thompson that the views on the bridge should be aired in an open forum, though
he acknowledged that such airings had occurred repeatedly over the past 15
years. Sutphin also stated that he hoped
for consensus to be reached through a further vetting of the issues involved,
as well as his concern that extensive delay could lead to increased cost to the
county. As an aside, Mr. Jacob noted
that he has had several conversations with Mr. Sutphin and complimented him on
his calm and reasonable approach to the subject. (This was my first encounter with Mr.
Sutphin, but I certainly second those observations. If everyone was as courteous and thoughtful
as Mr. Sutphin in their discussions of difficult issues, our society would be
in much better shape.)
Steve
Jacob informed the council that Brent Wheat has agreed to serve as our
representative on the county Emergency Management planning board.
Jacob
also raised a concern in light of the recent changes to state law and policy
for facilities oversight and liability in the wake of last summer’s State Fair
tragedy. Sherriff Campbell stated that
he had been part of discussions last fall immediately after the stage collapse,
and has recently updated plans for what to do in such an event. Jacob asked Commissioner Wolfe to investigate
the county’s planning efforts in complying with any new standards.
Gene
Thompson indicated that the previous commissioners’ meeting included discussion
of having numbers for health insurance renewal plans ready July 1st. Thompson asked if the commissioners could
request a presentation on that issue at our June 12th meeting. Jacob reminded everyone that our June meeting
will be at 6:30 p.m., with no meeting that morning.
Thompson
also asked for clarification and distribution of “assignments” for the various
council members to coordinate with the different department heads and elected
officials on budget issues. Jacob will
send those assignments out.
I
also raised the issue of relieving Karen Maue of her temporary assignment as
the council’s secretary. She had been
filling in after the position was vacated earlier in the year. I had originally hoped she could take on
these duties permanently, but that appears not to be an option. Jacob stated that he had spoken with Auditor
Price and expected that situation to have been addressed this month. He will follow up.
Meeting
adjourned at roughly10:40 .
Next
regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
at 6:30 P.M. 
