Notes -- June 2014 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
6/10/2014
All Council members present, Secretaries Chelsea Hall and Crystal Raub.
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.
The council reviewed and approved meeting minutes from its May meeting.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS: None.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:
Sheriff (Sheriff Campbell):
Requested $291 for Meals from a reimbursement from a training event, as well as $99 for Training on a reimbursement for a training an officer was unable to attend. Council member Thompson questioned the need for the reimbursements when each of those lines have more than 65% of their budget balance for the year remaining, with more than $124,000 in the meals line and over $12,000 in the Training line. Approved.
Sheriff Campbell also requested creation of a new line titled Courthouse Deputy. Approved.

Assessor/Rainy Day (Lisa Garoffolo):
Requested $231,000 to fund the remainder of the GUTS re-assessment contract, which the council had mistakenly only partially funded for one quarter in the 2014 budget.  In March, the council funded a second quarter, and this amount will cover the remainder of the year. All these funds – totaling over $460,000, has been taken out of the county’s Rainy Day fund, as the general fund operating balance is so low. Approved.

Highway/Economic Development (Rick Carney):
Requested $185,000 for the 400 South project east of 267/I-65 to cover the remainder of the county’s 20% matching portion. Council asked some clarifying questions. Approved.
Carney withdrew his $1M request for the connector project East of Whitestown’s Main Street pending further clarification of Whitestown’s participation in the project and the outcome of a bond meeting later this month.

Superior Court I (Judge Matt Kincaid):
Requested $5,000 for Part-time employee.  The Court has expended roughly 90% of its part-time and overtime lines thus far this year.  Approved.

Superior Court II (no one present):
Requested $3,000 for Med/Psych.  The council has repeatedly discussed this issue, as the need for this service is unpredictable and simply must be met when it arises. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:
The council discussed the possibility and process of re-establishing the CCD Fund rate, as it has the past four years.  Marcia Wilhoite has been tasked with gathering the information required and presenting to the council. The Commissioners took the first step in the process to allow the council to approve a re-establishment of the rate at its previous, higher level. The Commissioners approved a rate up to .0333, as the maximum allowable, giving the council flexibility to set it at the level it deems appropriate. The CCD rate falls more or less automatically as the state re-sets it each year based on changes to assessed valuation. This has resulted in a current rate of only .0125, and considerably less revenue into the fund than it has expended. The commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the issue on June 16th at 9:00 a.m. Much discussion and questioning of Attorney Bob Clutter followed.

Jessica Fouts of the Clerk’s Office presented information on the plan to move to Vote Centers for the November election. Rather than the 22 current voting locations, the new plan would have 8 early voting locations, with 9 locations on Election Day itself.  Current county-wide elections cost roughly $42,000 each; estimates are that the Vote Center plan would reduce that cost to under $30,000 per election. The Clerk’s office has funds remaining from a previous settlement to pay for most of the start-up costs.  The council unanimously approved a resolution to endorse the process to the state, so the clerk’s office can move forward.

OLD BUSINESS:
The council discussed scheduling its budget hearings for the 2015 budget.  Those meetings will be held beginning at noon on Tuesday, September 2nd, and running throughout the remainder of that week as needed. The council will also hold a workshop to discuss the reports from Umbaugh and Associates and the income estimates for 2015 in hopes of having a better handle on revenue and balances before the budget hearings.

Councilor Thompson asked Auditor Deanna Willhoite some questions to clarify budgeting in the Statewide 911 fund for both the Motorola Contract and the AT&T Interact/CAD loan.

Thompson also asked a question about encumbrances and the tendency for year-end encumbrances to take 100% of the remaining balance in a line. Encumbrances impact budgeting in that the council sets budgets based on an operating balance which includes some of that revenue that is instead encumbered, thus reducing the operating balance in sometimes unexpected ways.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Jim Whelan, member of the Boone County Election Board, addressed some possible concerns with the vote center plan and urged the council to support it.

Henry ___ addressed the council regarding the county’s possible participation in the EB-5 visa program, which is designed to encourage foreign investment to create jobs. He was directed toward Commissioner Jeff Wolfe and Boone EDC Director Bryan Brackmyre for further discussion.

DOCUMENT SIGNING

The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30.
Next regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, July 8th, 2014, at 8:30 a.m.