NOTES – JANUARY 2016 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

Only four members present – Steve Jacob, David Rodgers, Tom Santelli, Debby Shubert; Secretaries Carla Newcomer and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order just after 8:30 a.m. by President Steve Jacob and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council approved the minutes from its December meeting.

The members present unanimously re-elected Steve Jacob as Council President and Marcia Wilhoite as Vice President

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Sheriff (Mike Nielsen):

Requested transfers from the Deputies lines to Secretary, Executive Secretary and Evidence Tech to re-align salaries. These transfers reflect re-assignment of duties, but all within the approved budget for 2016. Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

By council ordinance, a super-majority of five of seven members is required to approve additional appropriations. As only four members are present today, the additional appropriation request submitted by the auditor was tabled until the council’s next meeting.

NEW BUSINESS:

Penny Bogan, representing Mike Miller of the Maintenance Department, requested an encumbrance from 2015 to pay off the remaining vacation days of an employee who has retired. That money was budgeted in 2015 but not paid out before year’s end. Approved.

Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, on behalf of the Highway Department, presented a series of salary ordinance changes proposed by Engineer Craig Parks. The plan includes detailed job descriptions and performance evaluations to create a tiered salary structure. All told, the positions’ salaries come in at slightly less than the council had allotted for 2016. Approved.

President Steve Jacob presented a variety of positions to which the council makes appointments. The council would like anyone who is interested in those positions to contact President Jacob via phone or email so that appointments can be confirmed next month. Positions are listed below.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Area Plan Commission

Lebanon Public Library

Thorntown Public Library (2)

Property Tax Board of Appeals (2)

Redevelopment Commission (1)

Council members were appointed to a variety of boards as well:

Convention & Visitors Bureau – Tom Santelli

Redevelopment Commission – Marcia Wilhoite

Solid Waste District – Marcia Wilhoite

Child Advocacy Center – Tom Santelli

OLD BUSINESS:

Council President Steve Jacob noted that the representative from Waggoner, Irwin & Schelle to discuss a wage study was scheduled to attend today’s meeting, but due to the reduced numbers on the council, it would not be appropriate. The representative is unable to attend the February meeting, and those present thought waiting until March would be too late to start the process. The

President Jacob asked the council to set its meeting schedule for 2016. After much discussion, the council approved a schedule similar to last year’s, with regular meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:30 a.m., with quarterly evening meetings in March, June, September and December. Those meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m., with the exception of the December meeting, which will start at 5:00 p.m. to accommodate holiday plans. Also, because the second Tuesday of November falls on Election Day, which is a county holiday, that month’s meeting will be moved to Wednesday, November 9.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Lebanon resident Aaron Smith thanked the council for scheduling evening meetings.

Jay Schaumberg, the council’s appointee to the Area Plan Commission, introduced himself and expressed his interest in continuing to serve in that role.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:15.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, February 9^th, at 8:30 a.m.

NOTES – DECEMBER 2015 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

All council members present (Matt Gentry notified that he would be running late, and arrived shortly after the meeting began); Secretaries Carla Newcomer and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by President Steve Jacob and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council approved the minutes from its November meeting.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Clerk (Jessica Fouts):

Requested transfer of $9500 from Satellite Voting to Voting System. These funds were unspent during this election year and will be used to upgrade equipment for next year’s elections. Approved.

Sheriff (Mike Nielsen):

Requested transfers totaling $42,000 from Jailers to Part-time ($20,000), Overtime ($20,000) and Executive Secretary ($2,000). The part-time and overtime transfers are largely due to turnover in the jailer positions; the executive secretary increase will cover extra work done on specific projects. Approved.

Maintenance (Mike Miller):

Requested $4,400 from part-time maintenance assistance to Maintenance Assistance to cover an oversight in the budget entry for the 27^th pay of the year. Approved.

Community Corrections (Michael Nance):

Requested $1,500 from Administrative Assistant to Field Officer to cover a shortfall caused by an additional hire and made available by a position being vacated. Approved.

Auditor (Deanna Willhoite):

Requested $2,100 from Clerical to Deputies to cover a retirement payout for a deputy and to align positions with duties as others in the office shifted. Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Auditor (Deanna Willhoite):

Requested $10,600 into Tax Sale Services to cover expenses in that line. These funds come from tax sale payments already received into the General Fund. Approved.

Highway (Craig Parks):

Requested $423,000 to 400 South line as reimbursement from Whitestown for a repaving project which will be billed by INDOT shortly. Whitestown had agreed to the 100% reimbursement and this will transfer that money into the appropriate line. Approved.

Sheriff (Mike Nielsen):

Requested $590 to the Interact CAD project. An amortization estimate for this now completed projected had been off slightly in its calculation, and this will cover that error. Approved.

Surveyor (Ken Hedge):

Requested $4000 for Engineering Services to pay for review of commercial services. These are paid by the clients into the general fund, and this is essentially reimbursement. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

Sheriff Mike Nielsen introduced Stan Brown, actuary with McCready & Keene, to discuss proposed changes to the Boone County Police Merit Retirement Plan, which covers Merit Deputies. These changes have been approved by the Police Merit Board, and must now be approved by the Council in order to take effect going forward. Highlights included: adding a 10-year service requirement to the “Normal Retirement” definition, which previously had been only age 52, regardless of length of service; extension of service requirement for full monthly severance benefits from eight years to 10 years; addition and clarification of survivor benefits to include non-spousal designees at the option of the employee. Several council members thanks Sheriff Nielsen and the Merit Board for their efforts. The amendments were approved unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

Council President Steve Jacob introduced Kent Irwin from Waggoner, Irwin & Schelle to discuss a wage study the council hopes to undertake to inform its salary and budgeting decisions over the coming year.  Mr. Irwin explained the Factor Evaluation System (FES), a job classification and compensation system developed by the U.S. Department of Labor in the 1970s and updated and revised since. It is currently used by the state of Indiana, as well as several cities and counties. Mr. Irwin noted that several neighboring counties have undertaken this process in previous decades, including Hamilton County, which did so roughly 15 years ago and has used the system for updates since. The process will be an important part of clarifying exempt vs. non-exempt employees under a forthcoming Department of Labor rule that will require exempt employees to have salaries in excess of $50,000. Mr. Irwin explained the four different job categories the system uses to classify employees in order to differentiate from other categories and to compare with others in the same job category. Many of the first steps Mr. Irwin outlined have already been undertaken by the county over the past few years. The council asked Mr. Irwin to evaluate the county’s current situation and provide some options for moving forward in the coming year in order to have at least some information available to inform our 2017 budget hearings this coming summer. He and his firm will return with those options at the council’s January meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Auditor Deanna Willhoite suggested some clarifications regarding meeting time for January and board appointments, which will be discussed and advertised at that meeting.

The council thanked councilor Matt Gentry for his service on the council and wished him luck in his new position as Mayor of Lebanon.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:45 p.m.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be an evening meeting, Tuesday, January 12, at 8:30 a.m.