BE IT REMEMBERED THAT, The Board of Commissioners of the County of St. Joseph met in a regular session in the County City Building on January 17, 2017 at the hour of 10:00 a.m. (EST) at which time in the following members were present: Andrew Kostielney, Dr. Deborah Fleming D.M.D., and Dave Thomas were present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The minutes of the last meeting were unanimously approved. Michael J. Hamann, County Auditor, was present and recorded the minutes of the meeting. OPENING AND READING OF BIDS ON: None REPORTS AND REQUESTS FROM: COMMISSIONERS THE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DOCKETS Dr. Fleming moved to accept the Accounts Payable Docket as read and outlined. B) THE CONSENT AGENDA Settlement Request Department Highway Department Philip Hutchen Settlement Agreement of $5,000.00 Dr. Fleming moved to accept the consent agenda as read and outlined. C) OF INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR GRANGER SEWER PROJECT SUPPLEMENTAL NO 1 Stephen Studer, Krieg DeVault, 4101 Edison Lakes Parkway, Mishawaka, IN. This is an agreement to forgive the previous agreement and obtain the new agreement as written. Dr. Fleming moved to accept the above requests as read and outlined. Motion seconded by Mr. Kostielney. Motion adopted by a 2-1 vote.
D) BILLS PASSED BY THE ST. JOSEPH COUNTY COUNCIL BILL NO. ORDINANCE NO. 87-16 01-17 86-16 02-17 85-16 03-17 88-17 04-17*(amended on floor waiting on an amended letter from Bill Schalliol) 80-16 05-17 *as amended To make this cleaner we will take these bills one by one. The first ordinance will be 01-17, which is a salary ordinance with the Auditor. They are doing some restructuring in the IT Department. Mr. Thomas. This is one of the final steps in the checks and balance systems of government. I personally find several reasons to disapprove this ordinance. First I look at the physical cliff and circuit breaker that the county is facing. Secondly, this ordinance gives raises while most employees will not be receiving one. This department consistently gets numerous raises. In some cases it is second raises. (positions and amounts read which received raises) Where most departments are tightening the budget some departments are getting lots of raises that creates tension for employees not receiving raises. It appears to me that these raises would be the second raise for the year 2017 for these staff members. When it says the project manager will be eliminated for 2017 of $50000.00 I don t think that is a full picture. That is a vacant nonexistent position not created until January 2017. There is no one doing this position to have duties passed around. Due to the physical cliff I cannot support this. Mike Hamann, County Auditor, offices on the 2 nd floor. Those were not raises for the IT. Basically we consolidated. We had two positions with the Prosecutor, two with the Sheriff, one with the JJC and what we did was eliminate one position with the Prosecutor and the one at the JJC. We consolidated down to the County IT which was a loss of two positions. The two individuals who came over from the jail they were not getting a raise they were basically restored to their original salaries they were getting under the Sheriff. Also they had vehicles they will not be getting vehicles from our department. We hired a Deputy Director at $60000.00 not $65000.00 so there will probably be an overall savings of about $3000.00. What we are doing here with IT will actually being a cost savings. Dr. Fleming. Does this change, increase, the overall budget for the Auditor? Mr. Hamann. No Mr. Kostielney. I have some issues also with IT but mine goes the other way. I don t think that we are paying them enough because this is one of the key areas of competency for St. Joseph County. This is mission critical department. So many of the things we are trying to do will fall on IT and if it is not where we need it to be we will not be able to do many of the things we need to. I applaud the IT department and the Auditor for the work they are doing. Dr. Fleming moved to accept ordinance 1-17 as read and outlined. Motion seconded by Mr. Kostielney. Motion adopted by a 2-1 vote. The next ordinance will be 2-17, which is a salary ordinance for Portage Manor. Mr. Thomas. I think it is a shame that Portage Manor will be losing staff. It is understandable of why they are doing it, they have been notified of liability coverage. Hopefully insurance costs go down or we get some revisions that can bring the staff back. Dr. Fleming moved to accept ordinance 2-17 as read and outlined.
The next ordinance will be 3-17, which is the monthly appropriations and transfer ordinances. Dr. Fleming moved to accept ordinance 3-17 as read and outlined. The next ordinance that will be discussed is 4-17 this ordinance was amended on the floor waiting on a letter form Bill Schalliol. This ordinance transferred $38000.00 out of CEDIT to the Town of Lakeville to help them acquire some land for a project. Mr. Thomas. Originally I believe this request was for $50000.00. Is anyone aware of why the Council only approved $38280.00? Mr. Kostielney. No. Dr. Fleming moved to accept ordinance 4-17 as read and outlined. The next ordinance will be 5-17, which is making a change to the St. Joseph county land use. Counsel. This is in regards to the definitions of automobile wrecking yard and junk yard. My law firm has prepared some language to clarify the statutory definitions and to tighten up for enforcement purposes what is defined as an automobile wrecking yard as well as some clarification for a junk yard. If things are stored inside a building it is not a junk yard. This went to the area plan commission they looked at the language and made a couple of minor changes and gave it a favorable recommendation. It went through the council with a favorable vote. The building department is also in favor of the revisions to this ordinance. I believe this is a code book change not a zoning change and therefore you can act upon it. Mr. Thomas. I get the feeling this is a little more strict. Counsel. It is limited to two or more pieces of what could be defined as junk. Mr. Thomas. This says an area of land not enclosed as before it was an area of land. What is the difference there? Counsel. It is kind of the out of sight out of mind principle there. The complaints come when the property is outside but if it is in a garage then there are some reasonable issues there. It is enclosed and out of sight out of mind. Dr. Fleming moved to accept ordinance 3-17 as read and outlined. Motion seconded by Mr. Kostielney. Motion adopted by a 2-1 vote. Mr. Kostielney. I thank counsel. I get most calls for complaints with things in people s yards. ADD ON SAINT MARY S COLLEGE-BPA Counsel. Last year you approved a bond resolution for the issuance of economic development bonds where the county would serve as pass through issuer for the benefit of St. Mary s College. At the time they were considering the issuance they anticipated it would be about $52 million. Most of that, approximately 45 of that would be for new and renovations. The remaining 8 or so would be for the refinancing of some existing debt they have. There has been some uncertainty with market conditions that has caused the university to revisit that strategy and to delay the issuance. They thought they were going to close at the end of last year. It is anticipated that they will close later this month or in early February. The university has given you this information to keep you abreast that there has been some delay with the issue and secondly that they are considering pairing it down substantially. Dr. Fleming moved to accept the above request as read and outlined.
COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS: TO SUBMIT A GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS BLOCK GRANT Kate Williams, Executive Director. I am here to request submitting grants for our Adult and Juvenile Community Corrections programs in St. Joseph County. No matching funds are required. Dr. Fleming moved to accept the above request as read and outlined. COUNTY POLICE: FOR BID AWARD FOR POLICE VEHICLES Dean Chandler, 4817 LWW. I would like to purchase 12 2017 Ford Police Interceptor Patrol vehicles and 5 Ford civilian SE FWD Taurus s. The total with trade in will be $442780.00. Dr. Fleming moved to accept the above request as read and outlined. BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS: Development / Subdivision Requests Irrevocable Standby Letter of Credit Northbrook Shores Subdivision Irrevocable Standby Letter of Credit Bradford Shores @ Knollwood Subdivision Special Event Requests Traffic Regulatory Requests Project Completion Requests Motion was made by Dr. Fleming to accept the consent Agenda.
2017 ST. JOSEPH COUNTY HIGHWAY ANNUAL BIDS FOR: *bituminous patching materials. *drainage pipe & structure, guardrail and bridge material *fuel, oils, lubricants, and misc. materials *liquid bituminous materials *miscellaneous aggregates *traffic paint and signage materials It is requested that these be advertised on January 20 and 27, 2017 with a bid opening on February 21, 2017. B) OF STATE-LOCAL AGENCY PROJECT COORDINATION FOR LOCAL ROADS AND BRIDGES MATCHING GRANT AGREEMENT FOR PIERCE ROAD FROM 331 TO ASH ROAD This is the agreement between INDOT and St. Joseph County for the community crossings 50/50 program where the state is matching our project costs dollar for dollar up to $1000000.00. C) OF STATE-LOCAL AGENCY PROJECT COORDINATION CONTRACT FOR THE REHABILITATION OF BRIDGE NO. 62 OVER YELLOW BANK CREEK ON WALNUT ROAD SUPPLEMENTAL NO. 1 The supplemental agreement adjusts the state fiscal funding year for the project to 2018. D) OF STATE-LOCAL AGENCY PROJECT COORDINATION CONTRACT FOR THE INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENT OF FIR ROAD AT BRICK ROAD SUPPLEMENTAL NO. 1
The supplemental agreement adjusts the state fiscal funding year for the project to 2018. OLD BUSINESS: PUBLIC COMMENTS: Dave Lang, 17530 Bending Oaks Ct., Granger, IN. Thank you or Greenworld for coming out to our neighborhood and picking up the leaves after my last visit. I am here to see how we can avoid this again in the future. After seeing a news broadcast on channel 16 we have a couple of questions. Are you going to have a leaf task force and what is the process for moving ahead? Mr. Kostielney. Greenworld has made a commitment to pick up the leaves when they see an opportunity. Work still remains as to how to make the process better. There being no further business to come before the Board at this time, Mr. Kostielney asked for a motion to recess, Dr. Fleming so moved, seconded by Mr. Thomas. Meeting recessed by a 3-0 vote. ST. JOSEPH COUNTY COMMISSIONERS