Notes -- August 2012 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
8/14/2012
Present:  All Council Members present. Secretary Crystal Raub

Council president Steve Jacob suggested implementing a new practice of assigning a council member to review the meeting minutes each month in detail before their distribution to the entire council.  The council approved the minutes of the July regular meeting as well as the special meeting on July 20.

 

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Circuit Court (No one present):
Requested transfer of $198 from Equipment to Library and $115 from Office Supplies to Library.  Approved.

Clerk (Penny Bogan):

Requested $600 to meals and $500 to room rental from the HAVA fund.  The council questioned the appropriateness of moving these funds as a re-appropriation rather than an additional, as HAVA is accounted as a separate fund, as well as whether the HAVA funds could be used at all.  In the end, all agreed to revisit the issue next month as a larger additional appropriation request.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Area Plan (Rachel Curtis):
Requested $7400 for replacement of two pick-up trucks (2005 & 2007) for one new truck rather than spend $4300 for repairs.  The office has only one inspector, so can get by with one truck.  Curtis believes that a new truck would save money long-term for repairs.  Several council members asked questions about the current trucks (one of which is not running) and about the proposed new trucks.  Commissioner Jeff Wolfe also indicated that the Commissioners have discussed making the older truck available for the use of the County Coroner.  Eventually the council voted to table the request until its next meeting pending exploration of other options.  Tabled.

Highway/CCD (Lisa Ping)

Requested $20,000 from the CCD fund to Building Repair to replace two Air Conditioning units which are leaking Freon.  Final bids have come in at $14,000, so the council approved $15,000 rather than $20K.
Requested $20,000 from the MVH fund to Professional Services for contract services with Appian, which is the county’s consulting agent assisting with finding and securing federal highway dollars.  The commissioners had budgeted for only a six-month contract, giving the new highway superintendent the option to continue the service.  Approved.

Surveyor (Ken Hedge):

Requested $1300 for Repairs, with unanticipated expenses including a truck and a Kubota tractor.  The line is currently in the red; Hedge hopes this new funding will carry through the end of the year.

Requested $3,600 for Travel/Fuel, as good weather has actually allowed his office to do more work than anticipated, using more fuel than was budgeted for.   Council members asked about the possibility of using ditch maintenance fees for some of these expenses.  Hedge explained that those funds can only be used within each watershed for maintenance and repairs to legal drains.  Approved.

Commissioners (Jeff Wolfe):

Requested nearly $1,700 be passed through to the Boone County Trails line from federal grant money.  Approved.

Sheriff (Ken Campbell):  

Requested over $900 in transfers of money collected from inmates for items such as Postage, Medical and other Inmate Supplies.  Also requested transfer of $312 for Part-time Clerical related to sheriff’s sales.  Approved.
Requested$38,000 for the AT&T Trunk Line for the 911 system monthly fees until a new contract – in the works since late 2011 – is signed and implemented.  Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

Council Member Gene Thompson updated the council on highlights of the State Board of Accounts annual meeting for county councils.  Among new legislative changes and other new policies to affect budgeting for 2013: addition of auditor and treasurer to eligibility for the Elected Officials Training Fund, exclusion of commissioners and councilors from the state’s nepotism law, notice of the phase out of the Inheritance Tax, electronic meeting attendance (but not voting), submission of fiscal body budgets to the council by August 31with council review by October 2.  The state has now combined all 911 financing under council control with a new fee collection structure; the Board of Accounts recommended tracking all 911-related expenses closely to demonstrate that the fees will not be sufficient to cover them.  Sheriff’s Pension Plans were also addressed, with a recommendation that counties examine more closely the future funding obligations of the plans as employees retire.

OLD BUSINESS:

In the changeover of staff in the auditor’s office, a few months’ of Re-appropriation ordinances went unsigned.  As members were unsure how they had voted on all the requests involved, council secretary Raub will be reviewing the tapes and reporting back next month.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Sheriff Campbell asked for clarification regarding what information he would be asked to provide and when for the pension plan questions raised at the state meeting Mr. Thompson presented.

Sheriff Campbell also introduced Chris Calloway of Morgan Stanley to explain some changes to the sheriff’s pension plan payments.  Morgan Stanley is the trustee of/adviser to the county’s plan.  With regulatory changes, Morgan Stanley will now contract with Comerica Bank to issue payments to retired officers.  Thus, the county’s contributions to the plan will now go to Comerica rather than Morgan Stanley.

Dax Norton, Director of the Boone County EDC, updated the Council on attempts to create a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) centered on developing the I-74 interchange in Jamestown.  A preliminary discussion meeting was held last month with representatives from four neighboring counties which Norton helps lay the groundwork for moving ahead in the process.  Norton also updated the council on the probability of economic development projects in both Zionsville and Lebanon, as well as some ongoing project possibilities in Lebanon. 

Meeting adjourned at roughly10:10

Next regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, August 14, at 8:30 a.m.