DECATUR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MEETING MINUTES

NOVEMBER 6, 2006

The Decatur County Commissioners opened their November 6th meeting with following present: Jerome Buening- President, Charles Buell, John Richards and Janet Chadwell- Deputy Auditor.

The October 16th meeting minutes were read and approved.

Mark Mohr – Highway Department- asked the Commissioners for a bid opening date for stone, pipe and RS2. Bids will be opened December 18th at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Mohr gave an update on the sign project, he’s hoping the lowest bidder will roll-over the contract as the Highway Department has 700 days to complete this project. Reimbursement for this project is 100% from INDOT. Commissioners approved Mr. Mohr’s request to take the old tractor with a maintainer to Best Equipment’s auction. TDS has requested permission to put line in the back of county right-of-way along old 421. Commissioners agreed and Mr. Mohr will express concerns to TDS on clean-up and seeding after the project. Depending on next month’s Area Plan, there are some concerns on expected truck traffic on county road 420 W.

Claims were reviewed and approved.

Mr. Richards moved to accept Pam Blasdel’s proposal on Pandemic Flu., Mr. Buell seconded and Mr. Buening concurred.

Vicki Kellerman of EDC reported on a recent trip to Japan. Also, the Regional Workforce Development will be working to inform people of needed skills for the workforce. Prospective workers will need a higher level of computer skills and grant monies are available to ease the cost of training.

Tim Ortman reported the 18 digit state numbering for real estate properties has been completed by Schneider Corp. Only 69 out of 25,000 parcels need qc’d or cleaned up which Mr. Ortman hopes to have completed by November 21st. Currently layers for school districts and zip codes are being done. The IT Committee is recommending contracting with David Leas to create a county website- including updates, links, forms, etc. Hopefully the GIS website and the County’s website will go ‘public’ by the first of February 2007. Mr. Buell moved to accept Mr. Leas’ proposal, Mr. Richards seconded and Mr. Buening concurred. Mr. Leas will charge an initial fee of $800 and a monthly maintenance fee of $35 as needed. Mr. Leas hopes to have the website finished by the end of this year.

County Attorney Peg Polanski told Commissioners a microphone is needed for their meetings as she couldn’t hear Mrs. Kellerman or Mr. Ortman, so those in the audience probably didn’t hear either.

Mr. Richards moved to close the bids for an ambulance, Mr. Buell seconded and Mr. Buening concurred.
Bids received: Wheeled Coach- $113,498 for a 2007 GMC; alternate quote- stock unit, 2006 Ford $93,479 - $5,900 (fleet deduction) = $87,579.
Med Tec- $134,014; alternate quote $113,316 for a 2007 Ford & $115,282 for a 2006 Demo-Ford. Also, 2006 Demo $110,476.
American Emergency Vehicles- $112,218 for a 2007 Ford.

MR. Buell moved to take these bids under advisement, Mr. Richards seconded and Mr. Buening concurred.

Decatur County Recorder Mary Vail presented an agreement with Data Conversion Services Inc for putting microfilm on CD’s to make it easier to access information. She would like to put the last ten years on CD’s which will cost $30,000, to be paid from the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund. Commissioners asked Mrs. Vail to ask Data Conversion to remove “…governed by the laws of the State of Michigan…” on page 2 and insert ‘State of Indiana’.

Kevin Crites of the Fair Board told Commissioners their board is not interested in working a deal with the Skydive group to pay rent for using county property behind the airport. The Fair Board’s main concern is liability. Ms. Polanski will send a letter to Bob Dougherty stating that he is to remove- get off and stay off of the County’s property.

Decatur County Treasurer Rita Burkert asked the Commissioners for a cordless phone, but she doesn’t have any money in her budget to buy one. Commissioners approved Mrs. Burkert’s request at a cost of $375.28.

Area Plan Director David Neuman presented ten rezoning petitions, all but two were A1 to A2: 2005-19..Adrian Scripture on 2.99 A; 2006-5 Manuel Watts on 2.99 A; 2006-11 William Obermeyer on 2.50 A; 2006-14 Chad Ogden on 2.99 A; 2006-23 Life Apostolic Ministries on 3.11A; 2006-24 Barbara Stone & Richard Moore on 2.99 A; 2006-25 Chris Springmeyer on 2.99 A; 2006-26 Danny Milburn on 2.99 A; 2006-27 Peanut Properties LLC, A1 to I1 on 20 A; 2006-28 John & Paul Corya & Stanley G & Mary Ann Tebbe, A1 to B3 on 124.31 A. All were approved by the Commissioners.

Mr. Neuman turned 2 properties over to the Commissioners as he has sent several letters regarding abandoned vehicles. Neither property owner has replied nor cleaned up the property. Ms. Polanski will take the next step, but she won’t go to Court until she comes back to the Commissioners. The Commissioners asked that Larry Howard of the Health Department and Mr. Neuman come to the next Commissioner meeting.

Ms. Polanski received a call from IDEM concerning the septic problems in Sardinia. Larry Howard has completed some dye testing- it appears not all of the septic systems in Sardinia are failing. If only one or two properties are causing the problem, there won’t be a need to construct a sewer system.

Mr. Buell moved to close bids for the new Burney-Clay Fire Station, Mr. Richards seconded and Mr. Buening concurred.

Bids received were: 
Mr. Buell moved to take these bids under advisement, Mr. Richards seconded and Mr. Buening concurred. Commissioners signed a sub-recipient form for release of funds for the fire station grant.

Bill Maxwell and his colleague discussed the benefits of having pre-paid legal services especially in the instance of identity theft.

Bob Barker, Parks and Rec Director and Bill Cash of Force Construction explained some problems in dredging the lake at the City-County Park. The weather has caused delays plus transporting dirt/sludge to another site will cause a mess on the roads. Mr. Cash had contracted to remove 13,700 cubic yards of dirt, but without a place to move it he may only remove 2,500 cubic yards. Several Country Club members expressed concerns about some of the ‘dirt’ to be placed on the third fairway of the golf course. The reconditioning and changing the irrigation of the fairway is cost prohibitive for the Country Club in addition to that area being ‘out of play’. Mr. Barker stated if the dredging isn’t done the silt/dirt will collect behind the dam and eventually clogging the Country Club’s water lines used for irrigation. Club members will meet to discuss possible solutions/alternatives to this situation and come back to the Commissioners in two weeks.

John Chlopecki of RBSK told Commissioners his office received several phone calls concerning problems when software vendors tried to ‘dial in’ on servers via the internet. Apparently when ETC became our internet provider, Josh Tressler installed some ‘firewalls’. RBSK needs a working agreement with Mr. Tressler including password information. Ms. Polanski stated the Commissioners need to make that clear to ETC.

Mr. Chlopecki also offered ‘enterprise mail’ an email system which offers calendar sharing among other benefits such as secure email and junk mail control.

Tom Speer of WTH Technology introduced himself offering GIS Business Development.

Properties not sold on two consecutive tax sales may be transferred to the Commissioners who may then may take bids in order to get those back on the tax rolls.

With nothing else to come before the Commissioners, Mr. Richards moved to recess, Mr. Buell seconded and Mr. Buening concurred.