Notes -- February 2013 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
2/12/2013
Present:  All Council members present, Secretary Crystal Raub.

The council reviewed and approved meeting minutes from January with slight amendment. 

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Highway (Auditor Deanna Willhoite):
Ms. Willhoite presented the request as part of a series of changes due to straightening out differences between the council approved budget and what the state approved.  As it turns out, the state actually approved more for the highway fund than what had been requested by the county.  This request was withdrawn.

Health Dept. (Cindy Murphy):

Ms. Murphy asked for a transfer of $5000 from Environmental to Sharps, which is a newly-created line.  The money involved comes from a grant from Boone County Solid Waste. This new line will allow for better tracking of funds.  Ms. Murphy also asked for clarification on the process of moving moneys between lines within a series.  Auditor Willhoite joined the discussion, with Council members requesting consistency in both policy and notification of the council.  Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Sherriff (Maj. Mike Nielsen):
Requested transfer of roughly $4500 into various lines (part-time, medical, postage, inmate supplies, office supplies) for reimbursement tracking.  Council president Jacob and Councilman Thompson asked for further clarification from Auditor Willhoite about the process of reimbursement and budgeting. Approved.
 
Commissioners (Jeff Wolfe):
Requested transfer into three lines for reimbursement:  Soil & Water ($1470 – for board members), Telephone ($2624 – from Community Corrections for shared lines), Trails ($1500 – from quietus).  Approved.

Community Corrections & Probation (Kara Ragsdale):

Requested $1000 (Probation) & $5979 (Community Corrections ) to correct errors in salary budgeting. These positions’ salaries are regulated by state statute and were simply overlooked in the budget. Salary ordinance will also have to be adjusted to reflect the errors (see below).  Approved.

Rainy Day/Highway (Rick Carney):

Requested $200,000 to Equipment line from Rainy Day, as directed by the Council

Highway (Rick Carney):

In line with the discussion at last month’s meeting, requested $500,000 to Bridge 220 (Ford Rd.) in order to provide matching dollars for anticipated federal funds.  Approved.
(Other request for $17,000 was withdrawn by auditor.)

Auditor (Deanna Willhoite):

Requested Additional Appropriations of $3.3M+ for County General, $95,000+ for ReAssessment and $549 for the Health Department to correct errors with data entry at the end of the year, as discussed last month.  These additionals do not actually change the amount the council approved, but rather distribute it correctly into the various lines from which it will be spent.  Approved.

Also requested an additional $20 for Dues & Subscriptions, $2000 for Overtime, $3000 for Consulting and $2000 for Training.  Much of this amount was justified as needed for the ongoing changeover to new software.  Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

Highway Superintendent Rick Carney returned to discuss his proposed equipment maintenance and replacement program, which he distributed last month.

Sue Ritz, newly-retired former director of Boone County Senior Services, Inc., introduced new director Anita Bowen, who took over duties last month. Ms. Ritz also presented the BCSSI Annual Report and updated the council on its activities, then presented a request for $20,000 in matching funds for the Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) program, as discussed at the council’s November meeting.  Ms. Ritz noted that among other needs, Gander Mountain alone is looking to increase its staffing by 20% this year, and cannot find sufficient employees in Lebanon.  Ms. Ritz answered many, many questions from council members.  Indy location will be at Ohio & Pennsylvania Streets, with the other end at the Lebanon Business Park, with morning and afternoon service.  Fare will be $3 each way.  Bryan Brackemyre, interim director of the Boone County Economic Development Corporation, addressed questions as well about the economic impact of bringing employees to Boone County businesses.  The council consensus was that Ms. Ritz should submit an additional appropriation request for our March meeting to come from the Food & Beverage Fund.

Brent Cardin, Director of The Arc of Boone County, presented Arc’s 2012 annual report.  Cardin addressed the Arc’s increased success in job placement for its clients in 2012.  He spoke on two barriers to employment – transportation and skills – which Arc focuses on alleviating.  Arc works BCSSI and BATS (the Boone Area Transit System) on transportation issues and continues partnerships with the Lebanon Library and IndyReads on adult literacy and GED programs.

Bryan Brackemyre of the Boone EDC presented the council with a contract which has been approved by the commissioners clarifying the services provided the county by the corporation.

Cindy Murphy of the Health Department discussed some issues with clarifying where the funds designated for the Health Dept.’s insurance premiums will be drawn.  Ms. Murphy also asked clarification on changes to the budgeting of copier maintenance, the funding for which was removed from the IT budget but not correspondingly replaced in the Health Dept budget.  Extensive discussion of the appropriate role of the IT department budget followed.

Ms. Murphy also raised considerations regarding payment of employees through various grants from the health department.  Specifically, a situation arose in which a part-time position paid through a grant qualified for a pay increase within the grant.  The question is whether this position should receive the increase though the county did not allow increases for part-time employees for 2013.  The conclusion was that this did not fall under that decision, but any changes within the grant structure would still require an update to the county’s salary ordinance.  Ms. Murphy also clarified that grant moneys coming in to reimburse overtime pay for grant work would be transferred later when the moneys arrived. 

Major Mike Nielsen addressed the progress of the InterAct Project.

OLD BUSINESS:

PUBLIC COMMENT:

DOCUMENT SIGNING:

The meeting had not adjourned when I had to leave at 10:50.

Next regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, March 12, at 8:30 a.m.

Notes -- January 2013 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
1/8/2013
Present:  All Council members present, Secretary Crystal Raub.

Before conducting business, the council re-elected Steve Jacob as president for 2013, and Marcia Wilhoite as vice president. 

The council reviewed and approved meeting minutes from both October and November with slight amendment. 

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

None

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Circuit Court (Kandi Killin/Becky McClure):

Requested $6500 transfer from general fund for GAL/CASA grant.  Approved.
Ms. Killin also introduced Ms. McClure as the new GAL/CASA director following Ms. Killin’s retirement.

Sheriff (Ken Campbell):

Requested a total of just under $700 in reimbursement transfers from inmate Meals, Medical and Postage.  Councilman Thompson again noted his objection to the inconsistency in procedure in transferring these funds.  Approved. 

Superior Court II (No one present):

Requested $498.88 to supplement the salary ordinance for the court Commissioner, as discussed and approved at our previous meeting.  Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, with assistance from Sherriff Campbell and Major Mike Nielsen, updated the council on the ongoing upgrade to security at the courthouse and other county offices.  The current “panic button” system is largely dysfunctional, as it is nearly 30 years old.  The committee charged with leading the upgrade project has received bids for a new system.  Wolfe noted that the commissioners are looking at a larger, longer-term remodeling program for the recently-acquired building on West Washington Street which would eventually include this security upgrade, but those involved would prefer to move ahead with the security upgrade in existing buildings as soon as feasible.  The commissioners are asking guidance for an additional appropriation request for next month’s council meeting.

Major Mike Nielsen and Sherriff Campbell presented information regarding the Public Safety technology system upgrade through AT&T/Interact.  Major Nielsen has been the project leader for investigating this transition for some time, and addressed the council last month about some possible grant funding available to support the switch from the CISCO system (now Harris/Global) the department has used for the past 25 or so years.  One of the largest benefits of the new system is that it will allow interoperability not only with all the public safety agencies in Boone County, but also other agencies across the state and nationwide who are using the same systems.  Major Nielsen had shared a tremendous amount of information with the council in the past few weeks, as requested, for review and discussion.  He provided cost projections based upon the new state statute for funding 911 services, though all involved acknowledged that the state itself is unsure of the accuracies of those numbers.  Major Nielsen answered many, many questions and addressed concerns with both the technical aspects and the financing projections of the project.  Chief James VanGorder of Zionsville (and president of the county fire chiefs association) also spoke briefly in favor of the project, noting the dramatic increase in efficiency it will bring county-wide to fire and EMS, in addition to law enforcement. The council unanimously approved a motion to support moving forward with the project. 

The council approved meeting dates for the remainder of the year, meeting each month on the second Tuesday.  Additional meetings may be scheduled as needs arise.  Meetings scheduled will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the exception of those on May 14^th and November 12^th, which will be evening meetings beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Surveyor Ken Hedge approached the council for approval in filling a recently-vacated full-time position in his office for a drain inspector.  The council gave its approval.

The council officially re-appointed Marcia Wilhoite to be our representative on the county Solid Waste Board, correcting an oversight from last month’s meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

PUBLIC COMMENT:

New County Auditor Deanna Willhoite addressed the council about a problem with the state approval of the 2013 budget, which was discovered in late December.  Apparently a data entry error on a form submitted to the state requested just over $3 million less than the council had approved.  The window of opportunity to appeal that error closed before year’s end, so now the county has to determine how best to deal with the problem.  The amount of money being received by the county has not changed from the approved budget, but it is unclear how the funds will need to be appropriated.  Auditor Willhoite will investigate further and return to the council in February with more information and a possible course of action.

Lebanon resident Aaron Smith addressed the council regarding his ongoing support of a proposal to modify the distribution of the state gas tax revenue to direct a higher percentage toward road maintenance funding.  Representative Jeff Thompson plans to introduce a bill next week toward that end.

Councilwoman Wilhoite asked Auditor Willhoite if she could prepare an update on the status of county health insurance and hospitalization funds for next month.  Councilman Thompson asked if in addition the council could receive an update on the status of the various funds.  Auditor Willhoite responded that she expected both requests to be met, and also noted that the office was beginning the transition to the new CYMA software from Harris this month.

DOCUMENT SIGNING:

 
Meeting had not adjourned when I had to leave at 10:30.
Next regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, February 12, at 8:30 a.m.