Notes -- June 2013 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
6/11/2013
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 9^th, at 8:30 a.m.