All council members present; Secretaries Carla Newcomer and
Chelsea Young.
Meeting was called to order at 8:30 and opened with the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Council approved the meeting minutes from its April meeting
without amendments.
RE-APPROPRIATIONS: Approved.
Assessor (No one present):
Requested just over $1900 from three different sources in
the Re-Assessment Fund to Loopnet line. Loopnet is a business assessment
program which is being discontinued. Its replacement will cost slightly more
for the remainder of the year.
Highway (John Wilson & Kathy Jedwabny):
Requested transfer of $5500 from Repair Equipment to
Equipment. Council had approved a transfer in the other direction last month,
but it was in the end unneeded. This just puts the funds back where it started.
ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:
EMA (Rachel Hansen):
Requested just under $1200 and just over $15,500 for two
grant reimbursement transfers on money which had paid for equipment including
two back-up generators and a communications system. Approved.
Highway (Commissioner Jeff Wolfe & Acting Highway
Superintendent John Wilson):
Requested $259,000 from two lines to reimburse Whitestown
for 400S project expenditures from an INDOT payment. Approved.
Commissioner Wolfe discussed the summer road program
approved by the commissioners at their last meeting. The program will focus on
upgrading gravel roads throughout the county, including drainage work. The
regular chip-and-seal rotation will continue, with minimal repaving and no
planned additional road paving. The county is implementing the PACER program to
analyze paving projects, and hopes to have that in place for planning a larger
paving program for 2016. Altogether the program cost request is $1.7M.
Council eventually approved $142,000 from the Food &
Beverage to reimburse the Highway Fund for purchase of a second dump truck, as
discussed at last month’s meeting.
Additionally, the Council approved $400,000 from the Food
& Beverage fund and $1M from the COIT fund for the summer road maintenance
program.
Next month Highway will return with requests for the
remaining $300,000 from COIT and the EDC fund.
Note: I believe this is the first time in my seven years
on the council that the summer highway program has been funded from current
revenues without tapping savings funds.
Approved $343,000 in Cum Bridge for completion of Bridge
220.
Approved $20,000 in Cum Bridge for contracting on Bridge
13.
Crystal Raub of the Auditor’s office addressed questions about
additional appropriation requests for highway department employees. Those
employees’ pay schedule runs one week behind the rest of the county’s
employees. The requests were to increase the fund in those Highway salary lines
by one week’s pay to cover catching them up and getting them on the same pay
schedule as everyone else. After very lengthy discussion and many questions, the
council approved the requests by a 5-2 vote.
Requested $300,000 into Rental Equipment as reimbursement
from the sale of old road graders. The money will now be used to cover the
lease costs of five new graders. Approved.
Requested $124,000 for Stone and Gravel and $16,000 for
Calcium Chloride to replace funds which had been reduced by the state when
approving the county’s budget. Approved 5-1.
IT (no one present):
Requested $1200 to IT Equipment for reimbursement from
grant money for an equipment purchase. Approved.
NEW BUSINESS:
Clerk Jessica Fouts requested adjustment to the salary
ordinance to reflect an oversight on poll worker pay. The county had budgeted the proper amount,
but it was not reflected in the updated salary ordinance. Council approved the
changes.
Commissioners Jeff Wolfe and Marc Applegate presented updates
on the highway department:
1.
The Highway Department will operate on summer
hours of 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday for the next three months. The
office will be closed on Fridays.
2.
The commissioners are working toward hiring a
highway engineer to replace the highway superintendent position, with the goal
of filling the position by July 1. They estimate the new position and its
requirements will require a salary in the range of $105,000, with a $20,000
reimbursement from the state annually. The current superintendent’s position
pays $58,000, so an additional appropriation will be required. After
discussion, the consensus of the council was to approve moving forward.
OLD BUSINESS:
County Attorney Bob Clutter presented the ordinance for
approval to back the RDC Bond for the Jamestown TIF which was submitted last
month. Council approved the ordinance 6-1, which constitutes final approval.
The council set its schedule for 2016 budget hearings. We
will meet in a “planning meeting” after our regular August 11th
meeting. Budget hearings will be held Wednesday, September 9 through Friday,
September 11.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Sheriff Mike Nielsen updated the council on several
issues, including fee changes in several areas, an updated Commissary Fund
report and some change orders to the jail security camera project, which is now
complete and awaiting final walk through. Council member Tom Santelli asked
Sheriff Nielsen for clarification on a proposed bill moving into a summer study
committee at the General Assembly which would seriously impact our jail
population and funding.
Marcia Wilhoite asked President Jacob to add Umbaugh and
Associates to our June agenda and to engage them to update the financial
analysis they provided last year.
Steve Jacob reminded those gathered that the council’s
June meeting will be an evening meeting, as will those in September and
December.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30.
Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, June 9,
at 6:30 p.m.
