Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

That's all

like they didn't even know about the meeting. Call the Brown County Commissioner meeting to order. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Start with the additions to the agenda changes. Anyone? Um, we have a yard agree or lawn agreement to go over. Okay. What? The lawn agreement. The lawn agreement. I'll put that under the contracts and certain where we generally talk about services. Okay. Minutes and claims um starting with January 5th minutes and then followed by January 7th minutes. So it's just Kevin and I. Yeah. So I went through the meetings and the minutes that were captured from both the town and and Julia. So it captures pretty much all the content that we have there. Okay. So, I'll make a motion that we approve the January 5th minutes.

Okay. I'll second roll. Ron Sanders, how do you vote? Wasn't there he was absent absent absent statement. Tim Clark. Yes. Kevin Patrick. Yes. Then I also printed out the uh article, the paper that covered that meeting as well and gave it to Sandy so more detailed minutes. So, it's a good thing. So, I've gone through the claims and the minutes from the last session and what we've got prepared tonight. Um, I am willing to make a motion or make a motion to approve the claims and the minutes. Okay. Roll. Tim Clark. Yes. Kevin Patrick.

Yes. Ron Sanders. Yes. All right. Our next item of business is appointments to boards and commissions. at this meeting. We're just going to you just give you a chance folks that apply to give a little background your interest in the position couple minutes. Doesn't have to be a you know your your biography. Um just kind of briefly again background and what your interest is in the position what you want to accomplish. Point of order, Mr. President. Yes. Can we basically ask people the audience to silence their phones, please? Okay. Just you're anticipating? Yeah. Well, I am I have a bad habit of not doing that myself and get in trouble. So,

okay. And then any selections we make will be at the next meeting on February 4th and that's what we kind of put in the paper. So, we're going to start got kind of list here. Now, the alcohol beverage board, we didn't have any applicants on that one. Um, so, uh, board of health, we had three openings and and two applicants. So, Dr. Day and and Dr. Hodgeges, are you here? Dr. Hodgees. Evening, commissioners. I just wanted to express my interest in the position. I've been here in Crown County for a year. Moved down uh my son's been down here for 2 years. So, I live just across from the uh Big Blossom Overlook and I've been a primary care physician my whole life. uh epidemiology professor. So I have a public health background and I'm looking forward to um to using that and to assist in the in the board of health here in Brown County. Um I was able to move down here from my primary care job because I'm a have an administrative position now uh as a chief medical officer for a health agency here in the state and so I'm able to uh be here full-time.

Thank you. He does he had a pretty extensive resume that he forwarded to us. So that I'll give you your packet. So thank you Jack. Is Dr. Day here.

All right. Tourism commission. Uh we got two appointments for the CBC. We've got four applicants. Brian Tadlock, Andrew, Richard Stanley Jr. and James Tilton. You can fight for the podium, guys.

Sorry, Brian Tadlock. Good evening. My name is Brian Chadlock and um currently I'm the chairman of the convention and visitors bureau uh here in Brown County. I'm also a member of the quality of life uh advisory board. Um, this work has allowed me to gain a really good understanding of how um, tourism funding in Brown County works on the systems related to it and uh, the compliance requirements, community expectations uh, with uh, the inkeepers tax. Um my focus uh that I would like to do with the CBC is really improve accountability with it, strengthen the governance of the CBC as well and really ensure that the tourism investments that we make yield positive impacts not only for our visitors but our residents as well. Uh my professional background, I'm a a business owner here in Brown County. I own um a cleaning company um five tourist rentals and uh my wife and I have a boutique here in town as well. Um my prior life before moving to Brown County was in u multi-unit retail executive. So I have a vast experience in strategic planning, financial oversight, um operational problem solving and uh really uh consensus with a lot of diverse opinions uh with uh various individuals. So um I really have embraced a lot of the new tool sets that we have available to us to really compile a lot of complex information and really move the ball forward. Uh we've successfully completed a long-term contract between the CBC and the CBB uh that really delivers on um an extreme amount of accountables and have really

fought very hard to get our books back in order uh from the financial uh piece as well. So um I look forward to serve. Okay, great. Any questions? Okay, thank you. Okay, Andrew Skin. Oh, Rich, step up.

I'm Rich Stanley. Um, and I have a couple reasons that I'd like to be on the CBC. Um, to start off with, um, let me explain. I do not have, um, a financial stake in the tourism industry in Brown County. Um, and that's one of the reasons I think it'd be useful, uh, for the CBC to have an outside voice on CBC. The majority of the residents of um Brown County don't have a connection to the touris tourism industry. But I do want to make one thing clear. I am a supporter of the tourism industry in Brown County and I want the tourism industry in Brown County to be successful. I don't have anything against the tourism industry at all. Um and I think I do have useful experience that I could offer. Now, another reason that I would like to be on the CBC this next year is because I am running for county commissioner. And again, tourism is important to the character of Brown County. And that's going to be a part of the role as a commissioner. And so, I'd like to learn more about the tourism industry, uh, the CDC and how it works with the commissioners and the government. And, um, so I want to participate and I want to contribute to the CVC and I want to educate myself on how all this works. So that's my interest in CPC.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Rich. Next, Andy. Andy.

Hi.

So, catching you up. Um, I have I submitted my application to both the commissioners and the council because it was not clear quite honestly which one or either of you might want me back. Uh, as you can see from this short biography over the 50 years I've been here. I've served on the CBC both as a council appointment, as a commissioner appointment. My primary concerns now are don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Um, our numbers were down this past fall with regard to incubats. I'm I'm a little concerned about the statute. I'm familiar with it based on my legal training. It's pretty clear you're supposed to spend that money on tourism and conventions. And the last paragraph of that statute says if you don't, you're guilty of a felony. And that's kind of a big deal. So, I want to continue to make certain that we're spending the money appropriately and I'm happy to do it. It's part of my job as a resident and I appreciate your time. Do you have any questions?

Yeah. Have you looked at any other of the Inkeepers tax statues from

Yes, I have. We have an interesting situation. Ours is one of six that was drafted independently. There was a general inkeeper stacks statute for the whole and back in 1980 when Jerry Bales was a was in the legislature they drafted one that was us. We're we're pretty unique in that fashion. And um ours is brief. It's only like eight paragraphs and it's broad with regard to you will spend this on tourism and conventions. Well, what does that mean? I mean, it's pretty broad. Um, and I know we've moved beyond now the first 5%. We're into the 8%. And as an inkeeper myself, I know that the first 20% of my money is gone. It's 15% for taxes. is 3% for the credit cards and then the Airbnb etc. is another 2%. So 20%'s gone before we get any money. So it's important to make certain two reasons. One, what are we doing to make certain that tourism which is the basis of why we're here in reality? Well, in general, I I some I sometimes talk to people about why Nashville I mean 60% of the real estate's off off off the books. We can't track tax it. And why are we not Morgantown, for example? We are not because tourists love to come here. That's pretty basic. And one of my major concerns is we have a $40,000 average

income and many of our workers are commuting to come here. They can't live here. They can't afford to live here. So, I'm open to suggesting ways to make that more affordable, but I want to make sure it's legal because I know what the state board of accounts is going to say if we're spending our inkeepers tax on things other than tourism and conventions. Yes. Just vaguely, it would do you think it would be possible to use the inkeepers tax to pay the mortgage at the music center? We are.

Yeah. The first dollars are coming out under the current agreement. the money comes out of our local to pay the mortgage on the in on the that's the way it was from the very beginning. It wouldn't have happened. I think that's an accurate statement. Yes. Yes. That's like $660,000. No. No, it's half that. Pardon? It's half that. Well, it's $55,000 a a month. Well, I think I ordered to confirm, but I I don't think it's 660. I'd need to bring my stuff up here to find out.

It's a it's an amount. But I will tell you that when I go around to the various hotels, etc. Whenever there's a show, they're full. They're and they're giving money back. The foundation gives money, right? They're giving they gave like 300,000 back to the county. You get six, I get two. Well, no. He we got uh 115 and what the uh

they got two. What' they get? We got there was only uh 200,000 available and we got 25% which was 50 and then we got 65 in lie of property tax which is all $200,000. Um, so the mortgage payment, the inkeeper tax is paying the mortgage. It guarantees, it guarantees the payment. They've never had the payment. It's not actually paying it. They've never paid it. Never paid it. Never paid it. So if the inkeepers tax was used to pay the mortgage, that could possibly bring another $660,000 to the coffers of the county, could it not? Well, no.

No. No. It was it was set up as a guarantee in case they never had enough money from the music center to pay the mortgage. It's never happened. They they have never had to dip into the inkeeper tax as a guarantee as a guarantor. Yeah. All right. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. Andy, I' I'd suggest if you look at the various uh inkeepers tax statutes by the other counties, they all say the same thing. Promoting tourism and convention business, more or less they all say the same. They all have that comment in their some of them however were dedicated to like convention centers counties for example. Some of them had to go well Monroe County is just now right

that's a problem. And then if you look at Tiffany New County, they're probably most uh uh distributive of that of that revenue on different count and they're very specific as as far as percentages as far as who gets what. They got a quality much more they've got a quality of life committee, economic development, they give money to the parks. Uh they've got historic preservation. They got all kinds of categories. A lot of different states and their statute in their statute very specific. Yes. And their statute says as well to promote tourism convention. This is blah blah blah. They all say that but then oh by the way you can stratify that by different categories. So I think that was most creative or specific that I've seen the different revenues

and then when you look at tourism I'm with rich nothing wrong tourism is important part of our economy but if you look at the we're we're taxed on income and property tax and you look at your uh Rockport analytics I think it shows wages from tourism gross wages from tourism is coming in around 21.2 two million, something like that. We're a bedroom community. Ball State did a study back in the CRC. I think probably part of that group said we're a bedroom community. Number one was if we track more people down here and number two is recreation was another driver. So when you look at the revenue coming in from all the residents in Brown County, it's $510 million. and we purposely and with and with people and then when you look at the wage distribution 77% of the wages are earned uh are coming from outside the county. So our attracting from an economic standpoint to bring people down here to want to live and oh by the way people we're attracting down here are also attracted by the amenities that the ser that the tourism business offers and all the recreational opportunities. So when you give them that dynamic of the county purposely went for high income tax, low property tax, which is kind of helping us and all these changes going at the state level and how they want to manipulate those two numbers. And so but when you look at it, uh again, the residents are the are the silent majority. They're the they're not they're the economic engine, not particularly tourism. And I hear that a lot now. So tourism is important part of our economy, but it's not the big it's not the whole picture. Well, my research indicates that we're like the top five in the state of Indiana with regard to income. We have a whole lot of folks who come here to live and they've retired, etc., and they have high income. Our property tax is damaged by the fact that we have only 40% of our real estate that we can tax. Well, that's just a constraint, but we

purposely we're we're probably one of the lowest. We have the lowest tax rates in the state. We're not the bottom. We're probably the second lowest on property tax. It benefits not only the commercial businesses, but benefits residents as well. But we revenue, we generate more income than we do property tax. So anyway, when it comes down to what we have to decide, it's who should be on the CBC and what should they be doing. And the reality is you can pick whoever you want and how that money should can best be spent and all the options that are available that other counties use as well. So appreciate your plan. I'm happy to discuss with you and thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you sir.

Jim, good evening. My name is Jimmy Tilton. I'm one of the newer CBC uh board uh milk board members. Uh I started in September of 2024 with a vacancy and when I was coming on board there was some upheaval challenges that were facing the the CVB because there there was um some accounting things to work through and some contract things to work through and and there was a good chance that it wouldn't even be funded. um we have accomplished working through those processes. There's a lot more processes that we still have to in my opinion still need to work work on. Um I I see that we need to firm up a little more on our processes and our how we operate as a board to have better documentation and and and bring up what is what what is our standard operating process? How do we function as a board? Um if you look at the Indiana code um it's it's rather vague. There's a lot of room for interpretation on what is tourism or what is development or um and then what happens if what happens if you have five member board and three of them have to recuse themselves for one reason or another. You left with two people on the board. What does that mean? Can you still vote? Can you still pass something? Um there's a lot of things that I believe we need to firm up and finish. We need to finish the job. Um as far as allocating resources, I'm I I want to get that done first before we just go spending money on something. Just because you have money doesn't mean you spend it. Um I I'd rather take a little pause and get a good foundation

for the future before we just spend money. Um, I think we should be good and wise stewards of what's been entrusted to us and a lot of times that's not spending any money. Um, so that's my that's my approach. Um, do you guys have any questions for me? No, I don't I think I'm right. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. And folks on the uh on the uh CBC, just a little history. I think the inkeepers tax started about 1984 if I recall. And and when you look at how that revenue was managed by the council, um pretty much I think at the time they said, "Hey, it's their money." Money came into the CBC. It was passed down to the CVB. CVB is a contractor. Some counties don't have a CVB. Some counties manage it themselves. We chose to have a nonprofit CVB. And for years since ' 84, the only performance related reports that I ever recall seeing is from the from the 990s that the uh that the CBB published. and that doesn't have a lot of operational data as to what we got for that money. So, this recent change when going from 5% to 3% and opening up that that can of worms and how best that money could be spent is new to the county. So, I welcome the change. I welcome the oversight and the transparency and then the creative new ways that we can use that to benefit the entire county as well as tourism. So, thank thank appreciate your your applications. Um, next on the list, Helensburg. I'm Kyle Myers. Um I own and operate a local excavation business here in uh Brown County. Um but I've been on the Helmsburg board for 5 years now. Um when I got on the board, we had to work through a lot of kind of uh internal filing and all kinds of issues. Um but we've also been working in conjunction with um Brown County, our regional sewer district as well. Um our main goal was our treatment plant was getting to the point to where it was in failure. So we know we needed a new treatment plant. Um and then we were trying to see how we can assist Brown County RSD and you know servicing more customers. Um we've in the last 5 years we finally have gotten to the point to where um we are

going to get a new treatment plant this year. Um we've been working closely with um SRF State Revolving Fund um in the last year or last six months. Um we're kind of down to the last few details right now of working through that. Um we started off as 100,000 gallon per day plant and even with working with SRF, SRF has kind of dictated to us at this point in time um that they're going to at least right now fund us for an 18,000 gallon per day plant. Whoa. um that will at least service our current customers plus give us um some capacity to be able to add into that. Did you say an 18,000 gallon tank? 18,000.

Okay.

Um the they're kind of raising um when we met with them in December was um it still sounds like on Brown County side of things, they might still be about a year or two out before they're ready to really start sending flow. Um, and quite frankly, the 100,000 gallon per day plant was uh above what they would normally give us in grant funding. Um, which for us is the only way we can afford a new plant is if it's pretty much 100% grant to us. Um, so they were allocating a lot more money than they normally would initially for the 100,000 gallon they plant and then as they're kind of working through the details in the last 6 months, they've kind of worked it down and worked our number down. um to where they're saying we can afford to give you an 18,000 gallon per day plant and then when future flows start coming in then they'll do expansions to our plant.

Okay. So what's what's the size of the tank now? The current plant is rated for 20,000 gallons. Um our average daily flow is about 6 to 7,000 gallons. How much? 6 to 7,000.

Okay. So um so even with the 18 we still have a decent amount of capacity that we can take. Now once we do start hitting 80% you know continuously of that you know what it's designed for flow then I then will start asking questions to us which is our permitting agency um to say hey you're starting to get close to maxing this out what's your plan to upgrade. So, so I mean we've got some flexibility in there, but a great deal. I seen what it looked like. You run a line up around Helensburg School somewhere down around. You got that all hooked up and going?

Um, so we we hired a local contractor. Um, we utilized um money that we had left over that you guys have allocated to us from the uh ARPathons um to at least get our main lines extended. We've extended it um south along Helmsburg Road and we've gone underneath of Bean Blossom Creek um to serve I think four homes um south of the creek there and then we've uh extended the line that was that stopped at the school and then ran it up uh Helmsburg School Road and then along Oakidge. Um and we're picking up four homes.

So uh let me say four existing homes, one future home. So, you're maxed out then probably uh flow-wise. No. No. Um, no. We should still be able to take cuz right now we have a current customer base of about 64 customers. Yeah. For 6 to7,000 gall day. And you have a meeting later this month. We have a meeting next Wednesday at 6:30 at the Brown County Community Church um there in Helmsburg, right?

Um that's our public meeting that we'll be going over a lot more of the details. um even our financial consultant and our engineer are working through that presentation now. Um that will basically be we want to try to really get as many of our current customers to that meeting as we possibly can. I mean the rest of the public is obviously welcome to come um and sit in and ask questions. Um but we just we've got a lot of information to kind of share even with our our current customers um as to what this means going forward. But I guess I'm otherwise I'm, you know, asking to stay on. I I kind of I've been tasked with spearheading this project since I got on the board. Um so I'm kind I'm committed to to seeing this go through um getting the new plant, try to get Helmsburg sewer district in a much better place um than even where it's at still currently. So

I certainly appreciate your time and energy on this project. I know it took quite a bit. I'm kind of curious how much how much how many customers are you expecting from the Bean Blossom project. I think it varied I 180 200 I believe the number was around 180 customers coming from Bean Blossom. So and that was at least Brown County RSD's got all that information. They've been taking care of that aspect and they've really just been kind of giving us numbers to be able to design a plant tours. Okay. So, you're going to be able to handle the 180 from bean blossom with the

not with the not with the first phase one of the 18,000gallon per day plant. um what they expressed to us, they being SRF said that now since they're going to give us the 18,000 gallon per day plant with our funding and our financing, um when they go to expand either to bean blossom or anywhere else, if we start getting to that 80% max, you know, on our current volume on our plant, then they'll also have to account for an expansion to our plan and their financing.

Okay. So, and I believe the they were looking at going from 18,000 gallons per day to a 40,000 gallon per day. And I believe the 40,000 gallon per day would at least serve getting to bean blossom. Um, and then go up from there based on how many customers they serve. Um, but I believe the estimate right now from our engineer was to do that expansion from 18 to 40 was a $2 million project. How much? 2 million. Okay. Okay. And you think that's a year or two down the road?

At least from the sounds of where Brown County RSD is right now, um it sounded like they probably they're still probably about a year or two down before they're ready to, you know, really submit something, test their effort funding and and go from there. So,

okay. I'm kind of curious. It's like uh we're always looking at we see different things. We ask a lot of why questions, you know, uh to try to understand where how we got to where we're at. If I look at the Brown County RSD, they started off as Bean Blossom RSD. Um, what was interesting on the petition that came from the council did come from commissioners. Nobone Helmsburg came from the commissioner's petition to IDM and then uh the Bean Blossom RSD came from the uh came from the council and the Bean Blossom RC was successful getting a plant. Um, and then it turned into the make it the Brown County RSD and they weren't successful in getting land or building a plant. And then, if I recall, they did the paperwork, did the strategy, did the SRF thing, and then did the uh the plan for the state approved for what, $39 million to go from Wooden Lake, the concept, Wooden Lake to to Lake Lemon. Lake Lemon is probably the one area that probably has the most documented need for sewer service of anybody in the county. But um that's a side. So now that we had a a bean blossom RSD that kind of went defunct and then the county kind of they don't have they don't have plant they've got to send anybody they hook up they send to you. So it's like do we still need two RSDs? I mean is Lake Lemon guys chopping at the bit to be hooked on? I mean they always were for several years. Is there any plan to hook those guys up? Is that in your territory? Is that in the county territory? Um, our territory right now is really just Elms by itself. Um, okay. We we did at least ask for um a little bit more territory from Brown County and RSD when we wanted to run these two mainline extensions. Um, so they at least granted us that, but it wasn't. It's really where you see Helmsburg and where our sewers is is our territory. Anything outside of that is not in our territory of Brown County

RSDs. Um, Lake Lemon. I still even from my own professional excavation business and I specialize in septics. I get more phone calls from Lake Lemon area um, of them in dire need of sewers and all that cuz most of their septics are in the flood plane of the lake. Um, and so I mean it's needed over there. Um when even when we started these conversations with SRF four years ago, 5 years ago, um the direction that they even said was, you know, usually the max amount of the grant money that they can allocate to any one agency or any one, you know, person is about $6 million. Anything after that, then they're starting to look at, you know, mixing the grant fund up to that and then loan. So, you know, it's the idea of it's like what can you do for $6 million if you need it 100% grant, you know, um either going to Bean Blossom or to Lake Lemon. My understanding is that doesn't get you very far because there's a lot of distance in between, you know, Helmsburg and those areas to even get the main lines out to that point. Um, so if they're looking at um, you know, a $10 million project, then it's the idea of, okay, if you're only getting six and grant, who can afford to pay back a $4 million loan? I'm not going to make Helmsburg customers, you know, current customers pay back a loan that's not needed for us. Um, you know, so that would have to fall onto whatever that customer base is. Um, and you know, then it becomes, you know, one RSD versus two. you know, we've looked at two ways, you know, on how to service this or how to maintain and operate this moving forward is one, we can treat Brown County RSD as basically a wholesale customer to us. You know, if you send us this much flow this month, here's your bill for treating that much flow. That's it. That's all we're doing

is we're just treating the flow that's coming into us from your from your area. you know, um the other then in doing that then Brown County RSD has to have their own staff to be able to do their billings, you know, maintain their system and that kind of stuff. So, if you look at it from the standpoint of it's like, well, we've got staff that's doing that for us now. So, if they're having to hire somebody else, you're kind of almost doubling up, you know. So, the other option we looked at with them was, well, if you get it installed and you finance it to get it installed and paid for, and you want us to maintain and operate the system and send out bills, that's fine. But technically, by insurance, I'm talking to our insurance agent. We got to have insurance on anything that we maintain and operate. Those we can't insure somebody else's customers. So, those customers have to be our customers. and if we're going to maintain and operate stuff. So, it was really the idea of, well, if that's how you want it and you want us to maintain and operate things moving forward, then you got to really turn all those customers over to us. Um, and we looked at it from, you know, if that's the case, okay, what's it look like? Flat rate fee, same from them. Um, because adding more customers ideally would help our bills out. You know, only six more customers. we're talking about adding another 180 and spread out, you know, my my monthly bill is a lot better across that many more customers versus just ours. So, I mean, we've kind of presented both of those options. Um, at this point in time, since they're so far out, we we haven't really we're not really willing to like sign any agreement or anything like that between the two districts because we don't know what the numbers are going to look like in two years, you know, or how we're going to want to handle that. Are we treating it as a wholesaler, treating

it as our customers? How is that going to work? So, um, we've discussed and SRF even said in the documents we're going to sign with SRF when we close this year for our plant, they're going to have it in there that when they're ready to send flow to us, we're accepting that yes, we will accept that flow and we'll treat, you know, but nothing more than that. Um, so like they're not they're not making us get into fine details in order to do that, which we're fine with and we agree with. I'm not we're not going to agree to determining how we're going to handle that two years out or what's that rate going to possibly look like this again? I don't know. Um so, you know, so right now there's there's not really an agreement between the two districts at this point in time that's been signed or been agreed upon. um except for when we do close on our funding or our financing, it will be in the underwriting on there that when they're ready to send flow to us, we will accept it and then retrieve. So,

what's the more common situation in the county? I mean, we got it seems like you've got the plant, you got customers, you're an operating functional RSD and and they're just collecting customers. Um, and I guess wanted the infrastructure to get some flow to you. Is that still make sense to have again the original intent was for them to have a different a separate RSD and a separate plant in Beam Blossom that kind of fell through. Does it still make sense to have two of these RSDs or they for anybody talked about consolidation? Do you guys feel comfortable taking it on or they want to take it on? How's is that just all where's that? Is it up in the air? Uh, and from the day I got on the board, that was immediately brought up by Brown County RSD that we just needed emergency boards. And from the beginning, we said no, that's not the right time to do so. Even as we've been working through this at this point in time, like our board is still firm on a merger is not the answer. That's not going to solve anything. Um, our board is can only be made up of users and rate payers of the district. Um, even with my understanding, even with the expansion that they're looking at for their phase one going to Bean Blossom, there's nobody on Brown County RSD's board that would even be a rate payer or a user. So, why would we want to add one? It's already hard enough to find three people to serve on our board. Going forward in the future, I mean, if we add more people, then at least it opens up the pool of people that might be interested to serve on this board, but it's still a struggle to find three people to serve on this board. So, why do we want to take the board and go from three to five or three to seven or anything, you know? And, you know, again, I don't also see the need or the necessity to have that many people serving on the board. I mean, if all

we're doing is, you know, basically sitting down once a month going through our financings, you know, what issues are going on, the three members that we have are more than capable than able to do that. Um, and, you know, I'd entertain adding another board member or two or, you know, adding two more board members if we had the interest of users that wanted to join our board and do that. Um again I don't see the need to merge the two boards. Um even moving forward as things are going really just need one entity to run the treatment plant on the collection system. Okay. So

I think you brought up an interesting point when you talked about the uh the amount of money that you can get on grants versus the loans and I think I saw an article that we had there was a county that basically dissolved an RSD for that very reason. uh they didn't have didn't get the amount of grants, they had to borrow money and when the rate payers saw it was going to be a $200 bill or whatever it was. I mean, I think that was the first time I think I read they said that they dissolved an RSV because the customers just couldn't afford couldn't afford that kind of service without a heavy amount of grants. So, that was kind of interesting, got my attention. So, thank you. I appreciate the background information. Thank you very much. Can I ask Kyle a question? Sure. Sure. Go ahead. Sorry, Kyle. Sherry Mitch.

Um you said that you have 64 customers and you're doing about 7,000 gallons a day. So do you have 64 more um customers in Helmsburg that would bring you up to 14,000 gallons a day by any chance? No, you do not. So you have 100% of your customers in Helmsburg on your system? Uh yeah. I mean, there's probably a couple of empty lots that if anybody ever wanted to sell them and somebody wanted to build a house on or complex, then yeah, we could add something. You do have 100% basic for the most part. Yes. At least whatever homes are there. Thank you, Kyle. That's that was my question. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Um Hamilton Township Fire District. We don't have any We're looking into that one. We don't have any uh uh names on this one. Um that may be a recurring thing, so we're digging into that one. Uh the redevelopment commission um we're putting that on pause. Um we can yeah current employees can continue to serve. We're going to put it on pause. I mean we can have an annual meeting I think is the requirement. So we're looking at that. The whole idea is to really uh develop a uh updates to the comp plan to identify a problem that the RDC can be tasked to solve. So until we get a comp plan really don't have a a mission for this RDC. And we look back in the past few years, the RDC was established really to sell the sock factory and to do something with the property. And when the beamey bought it, done mission accomplished. And the RDC since then really there's been no noticeable uh output or outcomes or results that you can claim that the RDC generated. Although I think when we on Helensburg, you know, we attempt to do well, we did do an economic development area, didn't do a tiff because we didn't think we needed the money. But yet the private sector stepped up and and and took care of it. I mean I think there were like three houses somebody bought and tore down. A few more houses got converted into got torn down uh Habitat for Humanity moved in. Um they got you know they established a community development corp. They got a community leadership team. I mean they basically revitalized themselves. So it was a phenomenal success story. Didn't ask for any money really from the county. I think uh we gave them money for dumpsters and signs I think and that was about it. So as far as a functioning RDC and doing tiffs and borrowing money and doing that didn't have to do it. Um, plus they had all the infrastructure anyway. And so I think we did fund, you know, wastewater treatment. Uh, yes, storm water treatment I think was a part of that. But they've been pretty self- sustaining. And there's light in the

tunnel for the steamy using that excess space of the beamer. So I thought this created steamy. So they're they're doing that kind of thing. But from the county standpoint, all the infrastructure is there. Generally for development developer wants you to put in some infrastructure to an incentive for them to develop and we've already got the infrastructure, got sewers, got water, uh got power. Um so anyway, so again on pause, we're required to have an annual meeting and again we're working on the updates to the comp plan. We got to plan for that. Um next is the plan commission, area plan commission, APC. Andy, I saw you back there. I'm Mike Harrison. U I submitted a uh a letter outlining my experience and that experience took me pretty much around the country. Uh I've been nomad most of my life and I haven't really had a chance to settle anywhere because of the nature of my work. I lived in uh six states, one of them three times and two others twice. I've had temporary residence in two other states and uh one permanent residence overseas. Um during that time I've worked in about nearly half the states and three foreign countries. Um so I really haven't had a chance to live participate in the community anywhere I lived. uh my last assignment uh that that I took allowed me to settle in and not not have to move around and relocate anymore. But at that point in time, I became a uh caregiver for my wife and the last 13 years that she was able to live with me before she passed. Uh after she passed, I started looking at my situation. I realized that I needed to be closer to my home. I grew

up in Albany. my own Benson since and my older brother lives in Columbus, worked there all his life and with his uh his family, his son is my executive. So, we decided to to move here to Brown County and when I did that, I made a decision to try to get involved in some things. Uh and I have been involved in a couple different nonprofits, but none of those have really um tax my ability to interpret things and make decisions. Um, I don't have an agenda about this particular position. I think the the nature of it doesn't really allow you to have an agenda. Everything is uh determined by the circumstances of what comes in. I I do have a little bit of experience that kind of overlaps with that. Uh I have been a building official at one point in time, which I understand is is different than what this position would require, but uh you're looking at some of the same ordinances and things like that that you would like. Um, I've been to a couple of the meetings. I've been real impressed with the professionalism and the cooperation of of the planning people. Uh, it's a team that I think I know I would enjoy working with and I think my experience would be a good fit for that that group.

Okay, great. And what's your professional background? I worked in commercial construction. Okay. Uh, very large projects. Um, you know, government projects, private state um hotels, hospital or not hotels, theaters, hospitals, uh did a lot of work for Orocom, which is a big communications industry. Uh one project for Boeing, a lot of different projects like that. Okay. Well, you're familiar with permits and zoning, I imagine. I am. I am familiar with permits. I actually issued them as a building official. So,

Okay. Great. Thanks, Mike. Good evening. My name is Amy Boilles. Uh I have currently served on the area plan commission/bza since 2019 I think 18 something like that. It's been a minute. Uh, I actually asked myself the question, why are you sure you want to put your name back in the hat or why why do you want to do this? Uh, I actually had that conversation with my wife this afternoon before I came in. And ultimately, uh, I believe in community. I've lived here my whole life. I'm from here. Um, kind of the opposite. 50 to 60% of the cases that come before us, I've been in or worked on the the property that that we're discussing. I have a a good knowledge of the county. Um, if I'm honest, I didn't prepare to say anything. I wasn't really sure what this was, but I would be happy to serve in any capacity that my community needs. It doesn't have to be this. It can be something else. Uh, but I feel like the definition of community is civil engagement. like it's our job. If not me or you or you who? So that's why I'm here. If I can help, I'd love to. And if there's more capable, competent people, then best of luck to them. So

thanks, Andy.

Oh, one more thing. I do have a lot of time invested in our comprehensive plan in our less than comprehensive comprehensive plan uh which I'm not thrilled about how the whole process went down. I'm excited to get a more comprehensive plan in place despite the hours we put into it. I think there's still good value and information that can be harvested from it. Uh, I would love to see more community engagement. I'd love to hear more from the people of the community, what they want, not what I want or what the other guy wants or the the five or seven people that are on the board. Right. So, that is something I've I've I've spoken to you about, Tim, and and I I agree. It could be better. We could do that better. And I I hate

that when we missed the ball the first time. I feel like I need a publicly owned like we gave it our best effort for the budget we had. Um we also have a huge amount of work ahead of us with our county ordinance our so after the comp plan gets updated then it's actually going in and actually fixing years and years of of things that may not may not have talked to each other when when they were passed. and there's a bunch of ordinances that have language in it that doesn't make any sense and I'm sure you guys are aware. So, I finally feel somewhat uh prepared. I I now know what I don't know where before I didn't know what I didn't know. And so, at least now we know what we don't know and we'll go forward from there. As

long as he doesn't quote where that come from, I'll kill you. Mandy, thanks on the give you a little update on the on the comp plan. Um uh our major reason was given the time constraints that you had amount of money you had two meetings on the same day uh to change a plan that it impacted the whole whole whole whole county. Um and so that was our hesitancy on on going ahead and approving that. Um the RDC was kind of tasked with developing a community engagement plan for that. Uh we tried to get a an ochre grant 60,000 to update that. Then we found out we weren't eligible because we're we're a fairly fluent county. Um, we got census track data. Um, and when you looked at the LMI, um, we're at 40.4%, you needed 51% or higher to qualify for OKA grant. So, I had to scratch that option. Then, we shifted to another grant, rural economic development, I think, is what they call a red grant. And the whole idea of the red grant, we applied to get that community engagement. We wanted to get the community being the county, the different communities represented throughout the county involved and and wanted to do a grant to have them help us do that. Um, but then they turned us down because we didn't have community. So, we asked to help to build a community and they said, "Oh, we can't give give you the grant because you don't have a community." So, thank you very much. RDC shifted develop a kind of an RFP as a as an outline to develop a community engagement plan for the county. Um where we ended that was okay let's in that's how to eat that elephant and so we're looking at I reached out to the uh the the consultants that developed Nashville's plan rea I talked to and we had just a simple kind of an outline of give us a prototype a proof of concept for for an area and and what would you do uh

I'm sorry when you say we you mean the commissioners we the RDC and and the commissioners we discuss it um between both and Can the RDC write account plan? Pardon me. Can the RDC write a comp plan? No. No, they can't. Okay. No, they can't. That's really the APC and then we ended up having to prove it. But then we need the input to

I will say like we I think and I don't want to speak put members or put anyone words in anyone else's mouth, but it was kind of left in the dark as a board. We got we got everything submitted and then we just didn't really hear anything or we did we they brought it up a couple times at the meetings like hey do you guys have an update? Are they approving? Are they accepting your comp plan? And it it was never really communicated back like no all the things you just said we we were unaware of. So we we were kind of left like well I don't know what you know what I mean? Well, we're not sure where it's at.

That's probably different different issue. I communicated with Kayla what we were doing throughout the process and where we're headed and what the concept was. So just a kind of a communication thing, right?

But the intent is is is this proof of concept is say look at Van Beurren and say, "Okay, if we're going to have a a community meeting that's one of five or one of 10, let's say, what would that look like? What would be the agenda? What are the outcomes that we want from that?" And and my goal is to be very specific. we've had some of these well you've been involved in some of these controversial changes when it comes to zoning and and different things and so you know from from our standpoint when you look at that I want everybody to understand what how their property zoned what zoning they're in what district they're in or could be one of many districts if you remember the Bor uh plan they were in a lake district as well as an R2 district and a lot of surprises as to what you could and couldn't do um and so residents didn't really understand what all you could do what's allowed within those zones and within those districts. So, I want to make that available

and we're we're working on that, right, with GIS and and having that all online. Well, it'd be nice to have that that be a stretch to have, you know, our zoning on the GIS. I don't know where we're at on that or amount of money, but just to let residents know, hey, here's the zoning. Here's the districts you may be in and here's what's allowable in the districts and what do you want and don't want when it comes to development. Not only for their benefit for what they want to do, but what can be done around them. Correct. Cuz that's when people pack the room is when a neighbor tries to change something uh that they weren't didn't know was allowed in their particular area. And I recall Landon Ridge when they wanted to convert it a certain piece to general business. And you know that's when you pack the room. Um,

we've also we have language that says minor subdivision. If someone is parceling off and you get 50 people showing up going, why are they putting a subdivision on road? It's like it's not even possible. It just means they're taking 2 acres.

And unfortunately, that's when people get involved. I get it, but I at least like to have the basics. And the second part of that is they know those three things. Our zoning, my district, what's allowable uses within those districts. It's like, how do you change it? And so, as you're well aware, I think came as a shock when you know when we were counseledled on the on the code to allow the commissioners or even the plan commission or even a resident to petition through their a legislative body or through their area plan commission to zone to change zoning and that seemed to come as a shock for the county thinking, well, you can't do that. Well, yeah, you can. It's in the code and if you don't like the statute,

that's fine, but that's not the point of of the statute. So, people weren't aware of that. So, how how how can you change it? So, if people walk away from these meetings understanding why we're doing what we're doing and how it could affect them in their area, their neighborhood, that's a win. And if they can say, "Hey, what we want and don't want," that's a win. And the feedback I've gotten from throughout the county, there's some areas just leave us the hell alone. Um, and that's extremely clear in a lot of areas, which is why we live here.

That's exactly right. And then I think the the meeting that had the probably the latest one that had to pack this room was the Combs Road. You know, the proposed opening up Combs Road. Well, there's good reason why it was closed. And then we had people from Mass State showing up and regionals showing up on that one. I mean you you you identified what they want in that particular area from those meetings and I mean the phenomenal knowledge that went through amazing amount of people that are still here today that were here 20 25 years ago that were dealing with the problem and people identified it's just a pristine wilderness area don't touch it it's a jewel that a lot of people don't know about but you never know that that's not in the comp plan right

and if you go up to the lakes guess what I don't I think in your plan it identified leave us alone there's We're fine. Thank you very much. They also have another legislative body that oversees the lakes. So, we kind of leave conserv We kind of leave anything that comes in through the conservancy is we kind of look at as long as the conservy's okay. We're we're okay. So, it's usually gray area.

One more thing, and I don't want to hold this meeting up any longer. We did have on a couple of occasions, and I believe Kyle Decker, who's not here tonight, had an idea. uh he's a little story when he was in high school he did a uh I don't know what it's called work release basically left high school and went and worked at a local business for a period we've talked about uh with some manpower stuff integrating some students at the high school here um not that it's free labor but it's a heck of an opportunity to teach students about what goes on at local government what goes on with civic engagement. What what is what does all that really mean at an earlier age? But it also provides some manpower uh possible uh social media inputs andor filing or making copies.

I don't know who we need to talk to to make that happen. I know some people at the high school. I'm sure you probably know more. But it seems like that would be a really easy win. that that's a lowhanging fruit to just get some more people in the door here to help but also get them engaged, get them involved. So, it's something I would I would love to talk further or catch me or text me or whatever. So, okay. Thank you. Got that one. Library board. Um Dan Thorne here by chance. He he was at last night's meeting. I think the council. Yeah. Kind of teased. It was It was our appointments, but it was in the papers to council. So, how'd he do? Really well, actually. Yeah.

Okay. I'll have to go back and look at that. Okay. You want me to reach out to him? Well, we should. Okay. Yeah. Kind of fell through the cracks. Is that what you're saying? Oh. Um, what's his name? Dan. Dan. Dan. Dan Floyd. Okay. All right. That does it for the appointments of boards of commissions. Again, we'll make selections. Any selections we make will be at the next meeting um February 4th. So, thank you all for being here and we'll carry on with our agenda. Thank you very much for coming. Thank all of you. Thank you.

Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Okay, an update on the owner occupied rehab grant. Uh we had a kickoff meeting and identified some key dates. So kickoff is in January that we had applications were fine-tuned February. Income verification starts March April. Home inspections April May bidder list meeting in May and then construction for from June to May uh June 26 to May 27th. So $500,000 we got we're targeting 30 people at what 25,000 uh available money for them and and we're kind of working it. And what's nice about the O grant is we also have a there's an energy saver grant that Eegis is managing for the state and whatever the one grant doesn't do, we hope the other one will. So we're trying to merge those two particular grants and opportunities. So um great great storm on that one. Next is this law agreement, Teresa.

Yeah. Um the Nashville or the National Day of Prayer. Um the Pentecostals of Nashville are requesting to use the courthouse lawn on May 7th. Okay. Isn't that what I mean? We've done that last year as well, right? They've Yes, they've done it for quite a few years, I think. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, we just need to sign off. Yeah, we want to hold on to that. Okay. I'll make a motion that we approve that line agreement. Okay. Second. Is that the one where all elected officials go down every year? Um, I can't answer that, sir. I don't

it has it the audience last year was some of the like Dave Hall and other members from the state state house and state senate were there along with church leaders around the community I'm hope and that so they're expecting 75 to 100 people he said oh okay they had probably about 60 last year you said you made a motion Kevin made the motion to approve the line agreement as it was presented okay I'll second Kevin Patrick Yes. Ron Sanders. Yes. Tim Clark. Yes. Pass it to Sandy so they can see. Okay. Um down to the county office department. Teresa, budget adjustments and transfers.

Um well, it appears that we should have went to the council meeting last night. We didn't go because we didn't know we needed to go. Um, but the only transfer that was approved last night was the 120,000 for the HSA for the employees and that's it. Okay. Um, could you or did you already you might have already done it in the minutes of the million dollars that was that was moved around. Huh? That was moved around.

Okay. You identified all that and you put that on a piece of paper and y'all already gave it to me to you? Yeah. It's an email. Okay. if you could copy that at some point. I kind of like to see what I've got moving around. Um, what's our chances of getting getting that? Julia, let me let me back up a little bit. Jump up in.

Yeah, we identified exactly what we needed transferred in our accounts. So, I'm a little confused. Jackie Clemens, I was the last question I asked at the workshop is what do we do with that $700,000 out there? Do we need an appropriation or can it be transferred? She said it could be transferred and and gave us that thing. So then we sat down with you, Gary, Teresa, and I sat down last Friday. We identified exactly exactly what what was changed and what we needed to put back in the budget. And we're expecting just a transfer, not a request for new appropriations. So where did it where the wheels fall off on this thing?

Transfer has to be from a 2,000 to a 2,000 or 1,000 to 1,000. So if it's not, then you have to go before the council to get it approved. Okay. Then what did Jackie What did she when I asked her specifically about that? Yeah. What was she talking about? She thought you knew that. Well, here's the thing, though. How can we ask for a transfer of cash when the cash hasn't even been appropriated or put in our fund? We had those meetings. We set them up early January so that because you hadn't you hadn't done your thing, which is normal. And how can we ask for additional appropriation for money that we don't even have?

Well, you technically do have it. It's just not put into the accounts yet. So, we're the whole the reason we're not doing that yet is so that we can get all this kind of figured out before we That's what I thought. Yes. So, last night's meeting was quite entertaining um to say the least. And then uh when we talked about this, I had it on there so that I could make sure that everything would go smooth. She had our list. That's what she's saying. So the notes you took, you had that list to share. I have my notes. Yes. Okay, good. But they want Well, they're going to they want it in I should say one of them wants it in writing. Uh lists it out from what fund is going from to what fund is going to,

which is what we already gave them in the work session. which did say to check their email. They had already had it. And the president of the council was at that meeting on Friday. He knew exactly what we were asking, right? And what you reported, what we all agreed to. And then he's no longer president. Okay. But he was there. He's a member of the council. So he was there and he wasn't the one he was not the one having an issue with it. Okay. So what do we need? What's the next step then? I'm going to make I'm going to go take what we discussed that I have on my paper, put it into the things, put the it's going from this one to this one for them and then send it to them. Okay. And so do we have to wait a month so our bills will be late?

Your bills I mean cuz we got we're not going to make your bills late. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. So I think we spent more time on the fix than we did Well, yeah. Spent more time on the fix. Yes. So the TR So it's not a transfer. You're planning on putting in the appropriations listed together for them. Does that mean we need to No, I'm planning on getting showing them what is being transfer where it's being transferred from to where. Okay. All right. So it will have to it will just be a transfer because the money is actually in your fund. Okay.

Because that's what we're using and then we're going to transfer this money into the other funds that are have been in the putting it where it was supposed to go in the first place. Pretty much. Pretty much. Yep. And they can do that as the their work session, can't they? Because they're supposed to be able to vote now. Yes. So, we don't have to wait a month. We could actually Yes. So, do we need to be on the agenda for the session? You should need to be after I have to hand the thing. I'm not This is my third iteration on this thing. You think it's done by now? I don't trust. I think we should be there. Every time we're not there, something doesn't happen. I'll plan on a question.

Even when you're there, something h doesn't happen. So, okay. So, maybe. Huh? Um, got a question. Yeah, sure. Sorry. Um, clarity come to the podium, please. Okay. Okay. Make me walk in. Just make me do it.

We should have given you the mic. I'll give you the mic next time. Thanks. My legs are actually getting better. I'm just lazy. Clarity, ladies. Um, didn't they move the money from parks and wreck back into the general fund last night? Mhm. Okay. Cuz she said HSA and that was it. And I was like, wait a minute. On on the commission on our commissioners that million point. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. I have a hard time getting them to do that. So So they didn't do Hey, choice.

I really don't have much. Just normal operations going on. Um RL Bucks did get three out of the four peers done on Orchard's Bridge. They're going to work on the other one uh this week probably. So that looks pretty good. consultants are happy with it. Um, we should get a notice to proceed any day for our CCMG grant and then they'll switch it over to Hoover. Uh, we're waiting on INDOT paperwork for Bridge 43, uh, our federal project. So, just hurry up and wait right now, but we're still compliant with everything. Um, everything's still in good standing. So what we did at the end of the year last year made sure that we met the five federal guidelines to keep us qualified

since we had our part turned in within the deadline and that's fine. It's they know it's on them now. Yeah. Cuz we've we've done everything we can do. Okay. You probably know what I want what I want to ask. Greater. Yeah. Yeah. I talked to um my guy today. It's at the port in Baltimore. They're waiting on customs to release it. Wow. Um, normally that's 4 days to 10 days for that to happen. So, he'll get he'll get notified as soon as it's been released and then he'll let me know when it's actually on a on a trailer headed our way. Wow. So, it's on its way almost.

And then the excavator they they have been in with for it. So, once that happens, they normally get it pretty quick. So, uh they have to get it to their facility, put our film on it, and then they'll they'll get it to us. Okay. But is it in this country to get it? Uh, they don't know. He didn't tell me where it was at. He just said they got invoiced last week for it. He said normally when that happens, that means that they're going to get it pretty soon. Okay. So, he didn't tell me the destination it was at or where it was at. Is the other grader holding up? Uh, yeah. Yeah, we're we're doing okay. I mean, right now we're prepping for could be a Saturday and Sunday. Could be Saturday, Sunday mass. Um, the problem we're going to have is temperatures are going to be super cold.

Oh, single inch or below. And and salt doesn't work at that level. Well, salt will work cuz the problem is 8 to 10 inches of snow is going to be an issue if we keep trying to put material down throughout the whole storm cuz we're going to run out if we do. Um, Indiana right now, Cargill is don't have any salt. It's all on the barges. It's all being shipped. No one has any. I've called everywhere. Um, we've got some, but we'll see what happens. We even ordered extra, didn't we? I have everything ordered that I can order and and I can't get it. It's It's been ordered. We concentrating on the hills. B.

Yeah, I think so. We're going to try to overload um on some sand at our shop and and try to plow and and sand the hills real good and try to keep more sand down than anything until the storm's done and then we'll we'll go out and hopefully put our mix and stuff down. That's that's things may change, but that's what we're looking at. Is that the projection 8 to 10 in? Uh, I think BAM put out um 6 to 8 plus this morning, but it's shifting farther north. So, we'll see. We're still a little ways out. And when's that supposed to start? Saturday. Saturday and last all the way into uh late Sunday or early Monday. Morning, afternoon. Uh, midday Saturday. Day.

Yeah. Around noon. Get your groceries, folks. Yeah. Yeah. Get your stuffs out the road. We'll do the best we can. So given that and I see you got a lot like I said when we look at the bridge stuff. So it looks like uh each is getting pretty close to getting their report done. I gave you the kind of rough the rough stuff of what they've seen and what we've done. We'll get road rating changes identified additional deterioration and things like that. And we're we're still working on the the ones that had critical findings as far as fixes um and replacements. didn't do that. That caught my attention. You had 10 critical findings. Uh we got the money for that one. It's it's a small scale repairs.

Uh a few of them are, but no, there there is there's one for replacement. There's one that is we're going to replace the beams. Uh we're going to have to use the the grading decking that's on there. Are these the bridges you listed? Yes. Part of that tent. Good good report, by the way. Thank you. All right. That's really all I got. Okay. Thanks. And for us simpletons, because I know you work in bridge numbers, help me with putting at least proximity where the bridge is at because Oh, yeah. I I don't know. Do that on the on the last one. And this one I I I was doing Give me a list of your bridges.

So, you have a book. I have I'll go back and I'll look in my I am guilty of that. Yeah, GIS nerds. I think those bridges are all identified on our map, right? Correct. Last time I went out, there's a layer for bridges. Correct. But anyway, it's Yeah. Okay. Question. Yeah. Um, just about the snow and stuff. You do a good job on my road. I don't know about anybody else, but mine is always good. Anyway, um, we lost our EMS, EMA, whatever guy. Um, what happens this weekend? Is there a an assistant that's stepped up or we have an interim Okay.

person stepping in. So Corey Frost from the health department who does EMA there is stepping in to to cover while Chad's since Chad's departure. So, he's already been working with us to get phone numbers and all that kind of organized and set up so that we're all ready to get fired up and make sure that we got the proper travel advisories in place and any declarations if we need to do them. So, he's already familiar with Chad's operating procedures for a lot of that stuff.

Cory's awesome. Got no problems with that guy. Um, how does that work? Just out of curiosity, the process, does Corey drive around and go, "Oh my gosh, my car is sliding off the road." Does Derek drive around and go, "Oh my gosh, my car's sliding off the road and then they call one of you guys. How does that whole thing work?" So, I'll just I'll give it and if I miss something. So, at the point we in the group that we deal with, we keep in touch with the sheriff. We keep in touch with Eric and Trent from the highway department and then he keeps in touch with all of the other assets he has with regards to the dispatch and things of that nature. And you it's unbelievable how many calls the actual highway department gets for pulling the sheriff's cars out of the ditches. Oh, I bet. So

there's coordination with coordination. So he's also the ones managing the information s and core to do exactly the same thing on the Facebook page is keeping track of our weather travel advisories and all that. So the travel advisory stuff comes through us. So once they've gone through, they've given their reports, roads are slick here and things of that nature, they reach out. Here's what we've got and Chad at that time. And Cory, I'm sure will do the same thing is keeping in touch with the resources that we've identified to be out there. So do they just call one of you or do they call all of you? We do it through text and it's generally two commissioners sign off on whatever the change is going to be on the weather advisory. Good to know. Thanks.

Sometimes it's all three of us. Depends. that's in the middle of the night. You may only get a couple of us. I will but I will I will share with you that if we do go to red, red is something that takes an actual sign off or an actual declaration in order to to to go to that category. Let's just h you guys would do that sign. Yeah, I would try to do that. Well, I'm always good with the yellow if our trucks are out because let's be honest, our trucks are big and the roads are narrow. Yeah. And that is typically what we put in. People need to know pretty quick that we're out. So, right.

Yellow is kind of like an indicator of highways out there. They're on the roads being being cognitive that they're present and working. So, can you do all of the while you're talking about it for what

those colors you're just explaining the colors? So basically yellow is basically travel advisory. So in essence it's it's not restrictive in the sense of it's just placing warning out there saying be aware of the conditions the conditions of the road are not normal and that we add to that is condition of if it's yellow highways on the road. Orange is more restrictive. It basically says no necessary travel in the sense of work or an emergency. Red means no travel at all. Sounds good. Thank you much.

And then for personnel policies, you always get when are you closing the county office buildings? And we pretty much by defaulted if it's red, we're closed. Um because every everything's closed. If orange, it's liberal use of leave. So if you got leave, it's up to the department head to to call that. But that's it. So everybody knows uh we take that mystery away from it. So it's kind of a set thing. Yeah. Worst worst case scenario, we get 8 to 10 in and it's sub zero. There's a real good chance we could end up red. Yeah. Uh did we go red last year one time, didn't we? Mhm. We did. Then it was then it was an emergency that we had to sign off and went to the We had two emergencies last year that we signed off.

Governor Cuz our our trucks actually stopped at one point or I think twice last year we just stopped. It was that bad.

Okay. Yeah. One the one thing I want to add here is Brown County is different. This is where the glacier stopped. We could end up in red when the every county around us is not because, you know, through dispatch, the sheriff, and you guys on the highway, and you know, it it comes quick, though. And if it's late night, you know, it's it's it's a good idea to put it on. Okay. Hey, one other thing, Eric, on this uh on the INDOT Pumpkin Ridge. I think Teresa shared you with that agreement. We just need to sit down. I understand that one, but as I understand it, we're like INDOT's like the subcontractor and we've got the line share of the project like any other project that we would have. So, we'll sit down with you and we'll sit down and get whoever we need from INDOT. Nick Banner P, he's our project guy. We'll sit down so we really understand what the what the workload's going to be on you when it comes to those kinds of requirements. And then we've got a they gave us a grant another chart that shows us uh a gant chart shows us all the interdependencies and all the different phases of the projects that helps us but that's not going to help you on the on the management of this thing. So we want to give you a clear understanding what's in that agreement and what our requirements are going to be and our obligations. So stay tuned.

Yep. Stay tuned. I know you meant the six but it kind of looks like a four.

Okay. Um ah ongoing business Mount D State Forest Pumpkin Ridge Road upgrade the survey construction limits are completed. Uh we scheduled that's funny an on-site meeting for for this Saturday at 9:30. So that might be overcome by minutes. Um funny you had to bounce all these schedules and everybody said yeah I can do it here and then boom here comes the weather. So we'll see on that one. Um, basically after that particular meeting when they go over their plan with the with the property owners down there, then we'll have a a the plan was to have a commissioner meeting the February 4th, we'll give an update on the project. Everything has happened from beginning to end and where we're at today. Um, and then if there's any possible vote, it's going to be at the February 18th meeting. So, uh, that's the plan going forward. So, everybody kind of knows what's going on. That's kind of it. I mentioned about the draft comprehension plan. um just working on a small scale kind of prototype uh working with the consultant that did the Nashville's plan and she's outlined kind of an approach for us. So if we can test something out and at like a say at Dan Buran that can be replicated throughout the state that's the intent we'll send that over to the APC for consideration review and that kind of thing. But but anyway that's the that's the plan to update that the plan. Um that leaves legal. Well, is there anybody here that has anything to say?

Last call. Any public comments?

Which website should which website Facebook page should we monitor for? EMA has got a Facebook page. That should be our priority would be that side county emergency. It should be and we actually try and keep the county website up with an alert at the top top bar on the county website. Okay. Thanks. Going once. Okay. Legal Stephanie, anything to add? Uh, no update. Okay, great. Have a motion to adjourn.

I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Hey, meeting. Thanks to everyone being here. Now the fun begins with signing. Oh.