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 27th
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.
