Notes -- December 2014 Council Meeting

NOTES – December 2014 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

All council members present; Secretaries Crystal Raub and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.

Council approved the meeting minutes from its November meeting without amendment.

Council President Steve Jacob presented retiring members Brent Wheat, Gene Thompson and Butch Smith with plaques commemorating their service on the council.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:  All Approved.

Courts Intervention (no one present):

Requested $2200 from Personal Services to Director. This will accommodate expenditures incurred before the creation of the new Director line earlier in the year.

Prosecutor (Lori Schein):

Requested $1000 each from Overtime and Deputy Prosecutor #3 to Deputy Prosecutor/Criminal to correct a transfer issue.

Superior Court II (Joyce Hinkel):

Requested $300 from Return Fugitive to Library to cover cost of an extra law book.

Treasurer (Debbie Ottinger):

Requested $1400 from Office Supplies to Program Application and $700 to Statement Processing. The office has switched processing services and the new vendor bills costs differently than the old.

Sheriff (Brittany Hicks):

Requested $22000 total in transfers to three different salary lines to cover costs incurred in covering vacancies, primarily from jailer positions to Part-time and Overtime.

Requested $2000 transfer to Executive Secretary for sex offender work, in line with the Salary Ordinance.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Area Plan (Rachel Cardis):

Requested $8000 for litigation for expenses related to an appeal of a $500,000+ judgment. Approved.

Community Corrections (no one present):

Requested $3500 for Retirement Contribution. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

County Attorney Bob Clutter addressed the council for approval of the new compensation contract for Sheriff Mike Nielsen, which has already been approved by the Commissioners. The contract term runs four years, so the sheriff will be ineligible for any elected official pay raises. Council approved a motion to have president Steve Jacob sign the contract.

Clutter also reported that the county’s recent bond issue earned a rating from Standard & Poor’s of AA, its second-highest rating, and a remarkably high rating for an entity the size of Boone County. Clutter also notified the council that the bond issue requires an annual fee from the trustee firm, which will need to be paid through an additional appropriation next year, and then budgeted into future years.

The council discussed a request via email from retiring Judge McClure to amend the 2014 salary ordinance to allocate funds remaining in employee salary lines in Superior Court II to reward those employees for their service. After much discussion, the council voted not to make the amendment and set the precedent of awarding what are essentially year-end bonuses that could have other impacts across the county’s budget.

OLD BUSINESS:

Marcia Wilhoite asked for information from the highway department about the $600,000 additional request from last month which was tabled. Kathy Jedwabny answered some questions to clarify the relationship with Whitestown for reimbursement of right-of-way fees. After discussion about the continuing lack of a formal contract from Whitestown, the council voted unanimously to approve the additional appropriation, understanding that Whitestown intends to reimburse.

Cindy Murphy of the Health Department presented the council with reminders of the council’s actions in its budget workshops to reallocate funds within the department to different positions based upon shifting job descriptions and prompted by a retirement. That change resulted in difficulties with the council’s approval of a staff pay increase, with uncertainty as to whether the positions covered by this reallocation would be eligible for that increase. The council clarified for the auditor’s office its intent to include those employees in the increase. As the budget submitted to the state did not include those funds, the council will need to approve an additional appropriation next year to cover the expense.

Commissioner Jeff Wolfe thanked the departing council members for their service on behalf of the commissioners. Wolfe also updated the council on costs associated with architectural fees for the Washington Street building, which have been higher than expected. 

County Assessor Lisa Garoffolo and Commissioner Wolfe advised that the Meijer corporation has filed a property tax assessment appeal on their building in Anson (and all their buildings across the state) based on an appeal they had won on a store on 96^th street. The county will be contesting the appeal, which could be expensive. The council voiced its support for defending the appeal and confirming that the county’s assessment process has been fair and accurate.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Auditor Deanna Willhoite and Treasurer Debbie Ottinger both thanked retiring council members Smith, Thompson and Wheat.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:50.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, January 13, at 8:30 a.m.

Notes -- October 2014 Council Meeting

NOTES – October 2014 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

All council members present except Butch Smith (ill); Secretaries Crystal Raub and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.

Council approved the meeting minutes from its September meeting with minor amendments.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS: All Approved 6-0

Assessor (no one present):

Requested $4000 from Supplies to Consulting to cover costs of informal hearings.

Highway (Rick Carney):

Requested $100 from office supplies to meetings and $1000 from repair equipment to equipment.

Circuit Court (Judge Jeff Edens):

Requested $225 from Continuing Ed to Library for purchase of books.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Commissioners (Jeff Wolfe):

Requested $1.2M to Health Insurance to cover claims for the remainder of the year. The Council had budgeted just $2M of a $3.25M request last year, in hopes of sparking a re-negotiated contract that would include savings to the county. Auditor Deanna Willhoite joined Wolfe in answering some questions regarding the total expenditures from the Employee Health Fund and the goal of building a “reserve” in that fund to handle large claims without requiring an additional appropriation. Alan McCloskey of Consolidated Union, the county’s health insurance vendor, was scheduled to be present today to assist in answering related questions, but was unable to attend and will be scheduled again next month.  Approved.

Highway (Rick Carney):
Requested $135,000 for purchase of an additional dump truck. Sufficient funds are budgeted in the Highway account for purchase of one account, but Carney had planned to purchase two. Carney had submitted requests from both the Rainy Day fund and Riverboat, giving the council the option to choose. The Riverboat fund was determined not to have sufficient funds to cover the entire cost, but Carney felt he could make up the difference from his original budget. Council moved to appropriate $120,000 from the Riverboat fund. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

County Attorney Bob Clutter, Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, Brian Colton from Umbaugh and Heather James from Ice Miller addressed the council regarding the issuance of a $7.6M bond for capital improvements, including $4.2M for bridge projects. The bond requires that 85% of revenues be spent within 3 years of issuance, which triggered discussion of possibly splitting the bond issue into two parts. That would cost the county more than $100,000 in additional fees, however. Commissioner Wolfe noted that several projects scheduled in the next few years should cover that percentage, and should they come in under budget other projects could be moved forward on the schedule. The bond issuance description is written in such a way that it should allow broad flexibility in dispersal of the funds. The Council approved an Ordinance approving the issuance of the bonds for up to $7.7M for the projects laid out in their description. In November, the Council will hold a public hearing to consider an Additional Appropriation to cover the costs of the bond issue.

As Mr. McCloskey of Consolidated Union was not able to attend, his discussion of health insurance funding will be re-scheduled for the council’s November meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

None.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Bill Stuteville of Lebanon addressed the council regarding the council’s decision not to fund a Veterans Discount Card as proposed by Recorder Nikki Baldwin in August.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:30.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, October 11^th, at 8:30 a.m.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Following the regular business meeting and after a short break, President Steve Jacob called to order a Public Hearing on the proposed 2015 County Budget.

Auditor Willhoite updated the council on the estimated revenues for 2015 in relation to the expenditures in the proposed budget. The county expects to have an operating balance at the end of the year of nearly $1.2M, which is near the goal the council had discussed earlier in the year and throughout its budget hearings in August.

At Auditor Willhoite’s suggestion, the council then made a series of motions to clarify actions taken in August.

Before approval of the COIT Fund budget, the council discussed the continuing and dramatic increases in the sheriff’s pension fund costs and how best to address them. President Jacob stated that he intended to convene a committee to explore long-term options after the first of the year.

The council then moved to approve the various property tax levies for 2015.

                General Fund                                                $6,406,647

                Reassessment                                                   $325,000

                County Health                                                  $405,657

                Mental Health                                                  $256,200

                4-H                                                                   $100,000

                Motor Vehicle Highway Budget                 $2,815,292

                Local Road & Street                                      $394,392

                Cum Bridge Rate                                              .0228

                CCD Rate                                                         .0330

Council also approved the Boone County Solid Waste Budget.

Notes -- September 2014 Council Meeting

NOTES – September 2014 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

All council members present except Debby Shubert; Secretaries Crystal Raub and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.

Council approved the meeting minutes from its August meeting without amendment.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Community Corrections (Kari Ragsdale):

Requested moving $7580 from PRI to Personal Service & $3850 from Thinking for a Change to Personal Services. This is at the instruction of the State Board of Accounts to switch from paying these personnel as contractors to paying through regular payroll process.  Approved.

Council also created a new salary fund line and a new salary ordinance line to accommodate these changes.

Clerk (Penny Bogan):

Requested $6300 from Deputy line to Part-Time Clerical. A deputy has been out on leave and the position is being covered by a part-time employee.  Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

EMA (no one present):

Requested just under $5200 for a grant reimbursement. Approved.

Superior I (no one present):

Requested $3000 into Med/Psych for evaluations.  These are always budgeted as a low estimate, as there is no way to know how much the services will be required in a given year.  The funds are currently running low.  Approved.

Superior II (no one present):

Requested $1000 in Med/Psych. Same rationale as above.  Approved.

Highway (Rick Carney):

Requested a negative additional of $850,000 from the bridge 300/400S line back into the Cum Bridge fund. Funding in other lines had become misaligned due to scheduling differences. This will cover budgeted expenses in other lines. Approved.

Council (Steve Jacob):

Requested $2990 for Consulting Services to cover overage for Umbaugh’s financial analysis. Approved.

Area Plan (Carla Hedrick):
Requested  $6200 to cover Litigation. A major ongoing case which was recently decided in the county’s favor ran beyond the line. The case is currently within the time limit for appeal, but should the ruling stand and all penalties assessed be paid, the county will receive over $500,000 in fines, penalties and reimbursement into the General Fund.  Approved.

Surveyor (Ken Hedge):

Requested $24,000 for Engineering Services for fees charged.  These should be recovered from developers and reimbursed to the General Fund. Approved.

CCD/Jail (Mike Miller):

Requested $50,800 to cover a variety of major repairs, including a $26,000 replacement of a chiller in the Jail cooling system which has already taken place. Once paid, these repairs will take the fund essentially to zero, so the request is for sufficient funds to cover the remainder of the year. This had been discussed at last month’s meeting but held off due to some discrepancies in the amounts budgeted from the fund for the remainder of the year. Those discrepancies have been resolved, and the fund has sufficient resources to support the request. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

The Council discussed approval of a new contract for Sheriff Mike Nielsen. This contract by statute must be approved by both the county commissioners and county council. One new provision of note is that any activities conducted by the sheriff bringing in revenue via use of county property must be pre-approved by the county commissioners. Approved.

The Council moved to transfer $300,000 from the Health Department Fund to the Rainy Day Fund, as suggested by Umbaugh in their financial analysis earlier this summer and discussed at the council’s budget workshops last week. The excess funds have built up due to a previous increase in the Health Levy in order to cover health insurance payments for the department’s employees. After having made that increase, however, the county decided not to use the funds for that purpose, thus creating the excess.  The council adjusted the levy back down during its budget workshops. Once in the Rainy Day Fund, the monies can be used for virtually any purpose, thus giving the county more flexibility.  Approved.

The Council discussed some concerns about balances in the county health employee fund (within the General Fund), including the lack of a substantial reserve. The Council is expecting an additional appropriation request from the commissioners next month to cover the cost of the remainder of the year, likely in the range of $1.25M. That should leave the operating balance in the fund at around $400,000, its current balance. Marcia Wilhoite and Gene Thompson suggested the county needed to establish a reserve fund, separating from the health insurance claims fund currently being used, in order to support our self-funded insurance program appropriately. The Council asked that Commissioner Marc Applegate and a representative from the county’s health insurance brokerage company be present next month to discuss these issues in more detail.

The county briefly discussed the recent budget hearings held last week, and the timeline for completion of the budget adoption. The deadline for adoption is November 1, so the council plans to take action at its next regular meeting in October. The council did not finalize one line in the CCD fund, for buildings, pending further information from the commissioners regarding a possible bond issue that will support several major projects, including replacement of the jail’s heating and cooling system and renovations to the 220 Washington St. building. Commissioner Jeff Wolfe stated that he hopes to have clearer numbers in the next couple of weeks and will share them with the council as soon as available to facilitate action at the October meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

None.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

County Attorney Bob Clutter presented the new sheriff’s contract for signature, as approved earlier.

Sheriff Mike Nielsen updated the council on the progress toward a deputy serving as a school resource officer for Western Boone Schools. Tentatively, the school will pay $60,000 annually for a deputy to serve in that capacity. Outside the school year, the deputy will serve as a standard road deputy.

Sheriff Nielsen also updated the council on a reimbursement for radio re-banding from Motorola in the amount of roughly $32,000. The original expenditure came from a maintenance contract out of the General Fund. Nielsen asked if the reimbursement monies should go into the 911 fund or into the General Fund.  Though the 911 fund continues to be under-funded (revenues do not meet mandated expenditures), the council consensus was to deposit the monies into the General Fund and deal with the 911 funding issues separately.

Gene Thompson asked county attorney Bob Clutter to discuss the process of adoption of any new local option taxes, including the “Wheel Tax” user fees. Under recent changes to state law, such new levies can be adopted either by the County Council acting along OR by the County Income Tax Board, which is comprised of the Council and any incorporated municipality in the county. Any of those municipalities or the county council may start the process of adoption through a resolution adopting a new tax. At that point a timeline would start during which each of the other entities must take action on the adoption resolution, with the results dependent upon the proportion of the county’s population represented by each voting member. A simple majority of those votes – not bodies – would be needed for adoption. Clutter answered several questions about the process. Clutter shared some of the entities’ population percentages as of 2013:

Unincorporated (County Council): 36.6%

Lebanon: 28%

Zionsville: 25%

Molly Whitehead, new Executive Director of the Boone County Economic Development Corporation, introduced herself formally to the council.

John Hume, candidate for Council District 2, thanked the council for including himself and other candidates as much as possible in the budget hearing process to facilitate their learning in the process.  Hume also spoke regarding the extensive discussion of the 27^th pay issue, which took up several hours of the council’s time.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:45.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, October 11^th, at 8:30 a.m.