HOWARD
The Howard County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on
The meeting was called to
order by Sheriff Marshall Talbert and conducted by President John B. Harbaugh.
vacated the chair when
necessary in order to carry out the business of the
County in the absence of
Commissioner Member Bradley J. Bagwell.
The minutes from the last regular meeting held on
IN THE MATTER
OF SHERIFF DEPARTMENT ISSUES:
Sheriff Marshall Talbert presented the following
issues for Commissioner information and approval:
1.
A check in the amount of $17,220.00 was presented to the Auditor
from the Indiana Department of Corrections for holding IDOC inmates. On the other hand,
2.
Proposed New Prisoner Transport Van:
Currently the Sheriff’s Department has two (2) transport vans. Sheriff Talbert requested permission to
investigate the cost of purchasing another prisoner transport van and move the
old 3/4–ton Ford 12-passenger van to the
The Sheriff is interested in a new General Motors van with hinged cargo doors on both sides. Mavron Inc. now manufactures an insert that will separate prisoners in four ways. This smaller van would be easier to maneuver in large cities and does better on gas mileage. The Commissioners confirmed that the Sheriff’s concept was a good idea.
3.
Service Contract Renewal: Mr.
Raver made a motion to approve renewal of a one-year service contact with
Control Power Company and the Sheriff’s Department in the amount of $1,415.00
for UPS Customer Support Plan and Battery Change for Model No.
5MZX-7.5K-10A. Seconded by Mr. Harbaugh,
the motion carried.
4.
DigiMug Software Upgrade: New regulations
require photographs to accompany warrant information. Sheriff Talbert received a quote from CSI Law
Enforcement, Inc. in
Mr. Raver made a motion to authorize the Howard County Sheriff’s Department to purchase the upgrade out of the Misdemeanant Grant Fund in the amount of $6,400.00 pending County Council approval of funds Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it carried.
5.
Military Service Personnel Update: Sheriff Deputy Paul Cherry has been
called to active duty and expects to be away for one (1) year. Currently Deputy Cherry is the only employee
that is activated.
6.
State Jail Inspection: Last week
the Indiana State Jail Inspector conducted an unannounced inspection. Coincidently, Council President James Miller
was visiting the facility. Captain
Vincent and Sergeant Sokol were not aware of any problems relating to the
inspection.
7.
Merit Board Change: Attorney Steven Raquet submitted
a letter to the Merit Board stating that he did not wish to be reappointed to
the Howard County Sheriff’s Merit Board at the end on his term on
8.
Audio – Video Recording Equipment:
(See page 2, December 15th, 2003 minutes, “In the Matter of
Sheriff Department Issues”, Item 2, for related discussion) The real time audio-video equipment has been
installed and is working beautifully. Aadco
Representative John Hill is going to set up a training session with the
officers. Once training has been
completed, the Sheriff’s Department plans to invite several City and
IN THE MATTER
OF HIGHWAY ISSUES:
Mr. Ted Cain, Howard County Highway Engineer/Superintendent presented the following issues for Commissioner information and approval:
1. Maintenance Bonds:
a. Maintenance Bond No. BCI 1717925: A three (3) year maintenance bond in the
amount of $18,800.00 was submitted from Mohr Construction Company, Inc. for the
maintenance of stone base and asphalt pavement for street, storm sewer system,
concrete curbs and gutters for Cloverdale Subdivision, Section 9,
in
Mr. Raver made a motion to accept the maintenance bond for Cloverdale Subdivision as presented. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion and it carried.
b. Maintenance Bond No. 400TC1217: A three (3) year maintenance bond in the
amount of $16,700.00 was submitted from Mohr Construction Company, Inc., a
Division of E & B Paving, Inc. for Walnut Estates Subdivision,
Section 16,
Mr. Raver made a motion to accept the maintenance bond for Walnut Estates Subdivision, Section 16, as presented. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion and it carried.
c. Maintenance Bond No. 3-787-034: A three (3) year maintenance bond in the
amount of $16,800.00 was submitted from Harvey Construction Company, Inc. for The
Greens at Wildcat Subdivision, Section 2,
Mr. Raver made a motion, seconded by Mr. Harbaugh and carried, to accept the maintenance bond for The Greens at Wildcat Subdivision, Section 2.
IN THE MATTER
OF PLAN COMMISSION ISSUES AND PROPERTIES FOR APPROVAL:
Plan Commission Director
Glen Boise presented the following issues for Commissioner information:
1.
There were no subdivision
plats to be presented at this time.
2.
Unsafe
Building Issue: Mr. Boise received a complaint letter from
Ervin Township Trustee Thomas Gillam concerning a house at 1757 North 1050 West owned by John P. Collins. The Ervin Township Trustee sent letters and a
statement of costs for removal of weeds to the property owner and mailed copies
to the mortgage holder. No response has
been received, therefore the Township Trustee requested the Howard County
Officials to take the necessary action to resolve this issue. Mr. Boise recommended demolition of the
building. Discussion ensued regarding
the funding source for the demolishing work.
Mr. Boise suggested setting up a fund for demolition of abandoned
buildings within the County budget. At
this point in time the Commissioners did not take any official action on this
issue.
3.
Flood Mitigation Issues: (Also see page 5, attached, “In the Matter of
Grant Activity”, Item 4 for related discussion)
Mr. Boise received a telephone call from S.E.M.A.
asking Howard County to apply whatever money that might be available to fund
the buy out of homes. S.E.M.A. has
Federal authority to allocate money from a previous project that ran into
problems and was abandoned. S.E.M.A.
requested
Discussion
ensued whether $100,000 was encumbered for the project last year.
Mr. Raver made a motion to take the Flood Mitigation Grant Request under advisement. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, which carried.
IN THE MATTER
OF MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT ISSUES:
Maintenance and Grounds
Superintendent Thomas Harrison presented the following issues for Commissioner
information and approval:
1.
a. The tile floor covering for the Emergency Management area has been completed.
b. Noland and Sons Excavating, Inc.
have finished installing the check valves into the sewer
systems. A dye test was conducted, which concluded
that the tiles run under
c.
Most of the offices had new carpet installed within the last six years
except for the Veteran Administration Office.
Mr. Harrison obtained an estimate to remove and install carpeting at a
cost of $1,500.00 to be paid out of the Cumulative Capital Development Fund.
Mr. Raver made a motion to
authorize Mr. Harrison to submit a request to the County Council for $1,500.00
out of the Cumulative Capital Development Fund as outlined above. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it
carried.
2. Courthouse Update:
a.
Mr. Harrison met with Mr. Ed Heffelmier, Project Manager of Terstep,
and Mr. William Bassett, regarding completion of minor details of the
renovation project. Quality Heating and
Plumbing, and the contractors that installed the ductwork were also
present. Mr. Harrison hopes that all of
the miscellaneous minor details will be completed soon.
b. Best Access Systems is
scheduled to install the locks on the prisoner access doors to the basement on
Friday, January 23rd. If the
locks work correctly, Mr. Harrison anticipates the card access system to be
activated in approximately two (2) weeks.
c.
The signs for the all of the doors have arrived. Mr. Ed Heffelmier advised his workers would
begin to put up the signs in about two (2) weeks.
d. There has been a delay in
receiving the new grates for the holding cells.
A company in
e.
The work to revise the HVAC System in Superior Court II is scheduled to
begin in March 2004.
3.
a. There
are still a few air leaks, especially near the windows on the west side of the
building.
b.
blocking the alley between their
building and the Administration Center Parking Lot on the northeast corner of
IN THE MATTER
OF PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATOR ISSUES:
Personnel Director Wanda
McKillip presented the following issues for Commissioner information and
approval:
1.
Increased Life Insurance Costs:
Jefferson Pilot Voluntary Life Insurance rates will increase effective
2.
Workers Comp Report: Mrs.
McKillip provided the Commissioner members with copies of the public employee’s
workers compensation report for the year-2003 showing a total of 53
claims. The County is in the process of converting over to the new workers
comprehensive plan. A meeting has been
set up with Selective Insurance on
3.
The Anthem
Insurance open enrollment went very well. There were thirteen (13) new
enrollees; six (6) employees terminated their coverage, and thirty-one (31)
various changes to individual plans.
Mrs. McKillip hopes the insurance cards will be made available by
4.
Birthday Post Cards: Mrs.
McKillip suggested changing the picture on the cards for calendar year 2004 to
promote the
IN THE MATTER
OF RECORDER SOFTWARE PROPOSALS:
(See page 4,
Howard County Recorder Linda Koontz, together with Information Systems Manager Terry Tribby presented the following issues for Commissioner information and approval:
1.
Recorder’s Software Proposals: Computer Systems
Incorporated and Fidlar Software responded to the request for proposals. The action to be considered by the Board was
to select one of the vendors. From a
technology standpoint Mr. Tribby said there were two key items that were
considered when reviewing the proposals.
One is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology, which transfers a
scanned document into a usable text document that can be corrected. This will help eliminate data entry
errors. The second important
consideration in selecting a vendor is that Soundex technology is included. Soundex looks for variations in spellings
when searching for a document. Mr. Tribby turned the floor over to Recorder
Linda Koontz to present the proposals.
While reviewing and comparing the proposals,
Mrs. Koontz became aware of the following information:
Start
Up Cost Annual
Maintenance Cost
Fidlar Software $59,850 $22,850
Computer Systems Incorporated $81,018 $ 7,000
Computer Systems
Incorporated is an
Fidlar
Software is the lowest bidder and their product has been out on the market in
several states for a long time. They are
a 150-year-old business that specializes in land records. Their software is user friendly, which would
reduce the amount of time it takes to show people how to search for
records. Fidlar’s product has OCR
Technology and Soundex included in their price.
They are willing to agree to not raise the maintenance costs more than
3% per year. Mrs. Koontz stated that her
preference is the Fidlar Software Company.
Mr.
Raver made a motion to accept the Fidlar Software Company as the vendor to
upgrade the Howard County Recorder’s computer system with a start up cost of
$59,850, an annual maintenance cost of $22,850 and proceed with negotiating the
contract agreement within the next sixty (60) days. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it
carried.
2.
Data
Conversion: Mrs. Koontz was not
sure what total costs would be incurred to covert data from the Low
system. Low provided a quote of $8,000
to transfer the data an ASCII file and $2,000 for each additional request. The total cost could easily add up to $10,000
or $12,000. The Fidlar Software Company
and Computer Systems Incorporated both feel they could write a program to convert
the data at a much lower cost. The
Recorder plans to ask computer technicians from Fidlar to conduct an onsite
evaluation regarding the conversion.
3.
Imaging System Upgrade: When the
data is converted, Mrs. Koontz felt it would be an opportune time to switch the
imaging system procedure. Mrs. Koontz
gave a detailed description of the current procedure, which costs $1,200 to
$1,700 each month. Imaging Office
Systems sells a Cannon Hybrid scanner that is able to scan and film
simultaneously at a price of $24,891 plus film.
There would be a maintenance contract for $2,975. Installation, testing, and training would
cost $2,000. The scanner would pay for
itself in approximately 1-1/2 years, eliminating the monthly expense to Graphic
Sciences and also lost documents.
Mr. Raver made a motion to authorize the
4.
Viewer System Upgrade: Currently
the charge for print outs from the viewers is based on an honor system. Terminals are available at a price of $2,000
for Keypad Access that would connect to the viewers and keep track of the
number of copies. The Recorder’s Office
would bill the customer based on the actual number of copies.
Mr. Raver made
a motion to authorize the
The Board of Commissioners called a recess to hold a
Board of Finance Meeting by consensus.
BOARD OF FINANCE MEETING WITH HOWARD COUNTY TREASURER ANN WELLS:
The Howard County Board of Finance Committee
consists of the following Members: Paul
J. Raver, Bradley J. Bagwell, John B. Harbaugh, and Treasurer Ann Wells. Mr. Bagwell was not able to attend the
meeting.
Mr. Harbaugh called the meeting to order. The election of officers for 2004 remains the
same with Mr. John B. Harbaugh as President and Mrs. Ann Wells as Secretary on
a motion made by Mr. Raver. Mr. Harbaugh
vacated the chair to second the motion, which carried.
Ms. Wells read the minutes of the last meeting held
on
Mrs. Wells reported the County only collected
$339,211.48 in interest income in the year-2003 compared to $527,426.20 for the
previous year. The interest rates have
been low and the county does not have money available to leave in a certificate
of deposit, having a better interest rate.
There being no further business before the Board of
Finance, Mr. Raver made a motion to adjourn.
Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, which carried. The meeting closed at
The
IN THE MATTER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS DIRECTOR ISSUES:
Information Systems Director Terry Tribby presented
the following issues for Commissioner information
and approval:
1. Projects for Year-2004: Mr. Tribby reported there is a minimum of forty projects scheduled for the year. The three (3) major projects are the Recorder’s software changes, Property Record Internet Access, and wireless data communications.
2. Property Record Internet Access: Mr. Tribby investigated information on the “Governmax Program” created by Manatron, Inc. that is capable of posting tax and reassessment information on the internet. When discussion was held on this issue in 2001, the annual cost was about $24,000. Since that time the price for this service and maintenance has gone down to $10,000 per year. The initial start up cost is estimated to be about $30,000.
Mr. Raver made a motion to approve setting up the Property Record Internet Access System as outlined above with Manatron, Inc. to host the project subject to approval of a written contract. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it carried.
IN THE MATTER OF GRANT ACTIVITY:
(See pages 5 –6
Grant Administrator Tina Mendenhall Henderson
presented the following issues for Commissioner information and approval:
1. New London Conservancy District: Ms. Henderson submitted a proposal document
for Commissioner authorization. She
advised that the proposal does not commit
A motion was made by Mr. Raver to authorize Ms. Tina Henderson to perform the public hearings for the New London Conservancy District Wastewater Improvement Project in accordance with the Indiana Department of Commerce guidelines and authorize the President to sign on behalf of the Board. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, which carried.
Mr. Raver made a motion to authorize the submission of the Community Focus Fund Proposal Grant Request and authorize the President to sign on behalf of the Board. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it carried.
3.
The Taylor Township Regional Sewer District public hearing to
was rescheduled to
4.
Flood Mitigation: Ms. Henderson was asked to
reiterate the information she shared with Mr. Glen Boise, Plan Commission
Director, earlier during the meeting.
Relocation is a factor that F.E.M.A. will fund. The homeowners have already used some of
their own money to relocate. As long as
they have kept accurate records of relocation expenses, the incurred costs can
be used to serve as the local match on projects that have a 25% local match and
in-kind donations. Mr. Boise plans to
contact Ms. Jan Crider, Flood Mitigation
Assistance Coordinator at the State Emergency Management Agency (S.E.M.A.) to
confirm this information.
IN THE MATTER OF
HOWARD HAVEN COUNTY HOME:
Interim Co-Managers Joyce Colburn and Deborah France presented the following for Commissioner information:
1. Applications For Admission: Two (2) applications to Howard Haven Home were considered. Mr. Raver made a motion to accept the
applications for Daniel E. Conley
and Lewis Henery
Garling on a ninety-day probationary period subject to ARCH
approval. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the
motion, and it carried.
Approval of
these admissions increases the total number of residents to eight women and
eight men for a total of 16. If the two hobby
rooms are reinstated into regular rooms, the facility has the capacity to house
two additional residents. Ms.
2.
Annual Inspection: (See page
1,
3.
Nurse Services: Nurse David Lawson from the
Howard Community Mental Health Department stops in every week and as
needed. Ms.
4.
Short Term Stay: Ms.
5.
Mowing List: Ms.
IN THE MATTER OF PURCHASE
OF
(Also see page 7,
attached, “In the Matter of Claims and Reports”, Item 9, for related
discussion)
Mr. James Hamilton from
Mr. Raver made a motion to accept the appraisal and authorize the buyer to proceed with purchasing the parcel and authorize the President to sign on behalf of the Board. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, and it carried.
IN THE MATTER OF CLAIMS AND REPORTS:
1.
Operating claims payable on
2.
Commissioner’s Salary Claims for hourly,
salary, and overtime payable for January 23rd, and
January 30th, plus employee appreciation bonuses in the amount of
$207,000 to be paid on
3. The Howard County Treasurer’s Report for the month of December 2003 was accepted on a motion made by Mr. Raver, seconded by Mr. Harbaugh, and it carried.
4. The county paid $14,688,353.96 million in wages during the year-2003. The wage information shall be published and posted as required by law.
5.
For Commissioner information,
6. Abatements: Currently the county has millions of dollars in tax abatements. These figures are complicated to put together and can significantly shake the tax base if done incorrectly. In order to ascertain accurate figures, the Auditor requested permission to seek help from Chris Johnston of Crowe Chizek. The Commissioners gave consent to do so and pay for the Mr. Johnston’s services out of the Reassessment Budget.
7.
The surplus money from the COIT and EDIT tax was received
in the amount of approximately $572,000.
The directive is to set up a Rainy Day Fund. Mr. Raver made a motion to schedule a Special
Meeting on
8. Court Recording Equipment Contract: Mr. Raver made a motion to approve the Word Systems, Inc. Standard Support Agreement and authorize the President to sign on behalf of the Board. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion, which carried.
9.
Purchase of
Parcel for
10. The Commissioners acknowledged a card from the family of Councilman James K. Shearer expressing appreciation for the flowers and condolences.
IN THE MATTER OF COUNTY ATTORNEY ISSUES:
IN THE MATTER OF COMMISSIONER ISSUES:
There were no issues presented at this time.
There being no further
business before the Board at this time, Mr. Raver made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Harbaugh seconded the motion and it
carried. The meeting closed at
THE
HOWARD
___________________________________________
JOHN
B. HARBAUGH, PRESIDENT
___________________________________________
PAUL
J. RAVER, VICE PRESIDENT
___________________________________________
BRADLEY
J. BAGWELL, MEMBER
ATTEST:
__________________________________
Commissioner Minutes,