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
6/11/2013
Present: All Council members present, Secretary Crystal Raub.
6/11/2013
Present: All Council members present, Secretary Crystal Raub.
The council reviewed and approved meeting minutes from
its May meetings with minor corrections.
RE-APPROPRIATIONS:
None.
ADDITIONAL
APPROPRIATIONS:
Sherriff
(Ken Campbell):
Requested
$1500 for Safe Keeping of an inmate placed with the Department of Corrections.
Requested
just under $600 in reimbursements into lines such as inmate postage, inmate
supplies (from County Corrections), inmate medical and part-time.
County
Commissioners/Soil & Water (Kathy Clawson):
Requested
transfer of $3432 to part-time line of money already budgeted. Approved.
Health
Dept. (Greg Inman):
Requested
transfer of $1000 in grant money for their sharps program. Approved.
Prosecutor
(Todd Meyer):
Prosecutor
Meyer addressed the council regarding a request that had been tabled at our
March meeting to amend the salary ordinance to reflect a new employee and new
rates paid from the pre-trial diversion funds.
Clarification had been needed regarding the original request for an
additional appropriation. In the end, no
additional appropriation was required due to the source of the funds. An amendment to the salary ordinance was
approved.
Highway
(Rick Carney):
Mr.
Carney submitted an outline for a summer road maintenance program, as requested
by the council. The program would repave
or “chip and seal” just over 19 miles at a cost of roughly $1.5M. Carney had
advertised several different options for funding the program for this year. The
council discussed a variety options, eventually approving three separate
funding motions: $500,000 from Food & Beverage, $104,000 from the Riverboat
Gambling Fund (the idea being to close that fund out), and $700,000 from the
Economic Development Fund.
Carney
also gave some updates on the changes to county highway funding resulting from
the recent legislative changes. Boone
County’s projected revenue for 2014 will be nearly $2.7M, a roughly $605,000
increase from 2012. Late 2013 payment
will include an estimated $268,000 beyond what had been budgeted for the year.
NEW
BUSINESS:
County
Attorney Bob Clutter addressed the council regarding a proposal in the works to
be presented next month to restructure the county’s maintenance
department. Separate from that, Clutter,
on behalf of the county commissioners, requested a change to the salary
ordinance to convert one part-time position to a full-time position, as
originally discussed at the council’s March meeting.
Sheriff
Ken Campbell presented a proposal regarding the positions of Jail Matron and
Jail Commander, both of which are recognized in statute as deputy positions
eligible for deputy pay, though Boone County’s Jail Matron has been classified
as a part-time employee. With changes to
the position and to definitions of full- and part-time employees, Sheriff
Campbell would like to convert the Matron to a full-time position, with the
position’s benefits package paid out of the Jail Commissary Fund. Eventually
the council approved by a 5-2 vote an amendment to the salary ordinance to
reflect the change.
During
the discussion of Sheriff Campbell’s proposal, a wide-ranging discussion
emerged of definitions of full- and part-time employees, as well as seasonal
employees and possibilities of employee-sharing among offices. That discussion will continue at next month’s
meeting and leading up to the 2014 budget hearings in
September. Informational items requested included the
number of part-time employees who will be affected by the Affordable Care Act
requirements and new Commissioners’ policy defining benefits eligibility, as
well as the number of current full-time employees working either 35 or 40
hours.
Councilor
Wilhoite raised the issue of the continuing decline of the Cumulative Capital
Development Fund and ask Attorney Clutter for input on the process of
addressing a change in the levy rate for the fund. The council has – on the recommendation of
the County Commissioners – gone through the public hearing process each of the
past two years to discuss the possibility of adjusting that rate. The council
consensus was that it would be prudent to investigate the issue again and
instructed Mr. Clutter to make the necessary arrangements and advertising.
OLD
BUSINESS:
PUBLIC
COMMENT:
Auditor
Deanna Willhoite asked for clarification of the council’s plans for its annual
budget workshops and hearings. In years
past the workshops have been held in mid-August, but recently the state has
failed to provide accurate revenue numbers by that time, making the process
difficult and often creating the need for correction of errors later. This year the workshops will be held
September 17-20, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The actual budget hearing will occur
during the council’s regular monthly meeting in October.
Lebanon
resident Aaron Smith addressed the issue of increasing the CCD fund, noting
that the overall county levy rate has fallen roughly 8% in the past two years
and that an increase to restore that level would not be out of line, though he
also cautioned the council to beware of the impact of any increase on other taxing
entities in light of the state’s property tax caps, noting particularly the
struggles of Zionsville with revenue lost to the caps.
Auditor
Willhoite also revisited the issue of council and commissioner access to the
new CYMA financial software. She now
believes that read-only access is available, though there are concerns over the
number of log-ins available. Willhoite
will follow up with Eric Goodnight of GUTS.
Councilor
Thompson asked Treasurer Debbie Ottinger to discuss the Finance Committee’s
investment strategy, and whether it involved investment in CD’s.
DOCUMENT
SIGNING
The
meeting adjourned at approximately 10:45
Next
regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, July 9th, at
8:30 a.m.
