County Council - Regular Meeting

set this okay to start a minute early yeah okay well let's all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance

As a recipient of federal funds in the support of Dearborn County's efforts to ensure non-discrimination and equal access to all citizens, the county gathers statistical data regarding participants and county activities. Therefore, we have provided a voluntary Title VI public involvement survey at this meeting. You are not required to complete this survey. However, the form is anonymous and will be solely for the purpose of monitoring our compliance with Title VI and ADA.

Thank you. First off, for our business is the adoption of our 2027 budget. Is there a motion to approve the 2027 budget?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Our budget is adopted.

Do you need a motion for solid waste, too, since they're here?

If you want one, that's fine. Is there a motion to approve the budget for solid waste?

So moved.

Second.

I'll second.

Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, so next on our agenda is to approve $20,205 to hire an additional person for assistant superintendent training. I think most of us know that There's only two maintenance positions that are administrative. There's the maintenance supervisor, which is Eric, who's retiring, and then his deputy, who's been training for six years, has been incapacitated. So there's an extreme need to have this position. And I don't think the county has any choice because, I mean, $20,000, you could have one repair that didn't get done in time and would cost us more than that. So it's unfortunate that this gentleman is having some issues, but it's something that I think the county would be prudent to take care of this now. And Eric has been asked, because so much of the information about maintenance has been in his head, and he's been asked to put this in paper and work with Connie's office to make that happen so that people can refer to a piece of paper if something comes up. So I think the county's trying to be as proactive as possible to keep things going in the right direction. Is there a motion to approve this appropriation for $20,000 and $205? So moved.

Second.

Any other discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. Connie says that everything else is yours.

Yeah, that doesn't, that does not apply to the record results.

Correct, correct. There have been an abundance of records requests lately. Monday morning, Connie's usually sending me three to five every Monday morning of records requests. If they had asked for an additional person in their office just to handle records requests, I would have been like, absolutely, because they've been really, really busy lately. And just through that process, I just noticed that 3704 in our code of ordinances HAD BEEN WRITTEN A WHILE AGO, HADN'T REALLY BEEN UPDATED, AND SO THE ORDINANCE BEFORE YOU FOR THAT IS JUST TO UPDATE OUR ORDINANCE TO MIRROR WHAT'S IN THE INDIANA CODE. OBVIOUSLY, WHEN WE'RE HANDLING RECORDS REQUESTS, WE'RE DOING WHAT THE INDIANA CODE REQUIRES US TO DO, AND IF THERE'S CHARGES, CHARGING WHAT THE INDIANA CODE REQUIRES US TO DO. THIS IS JUST, IT'S REALLY RESTATED IN OUR CODE OF ORDINANCES, AND THIS IS JUST BRINGING UP THAT SECTION TO MIRROR THE INDIANA CODE HAS. THERE WERE SOME UPDATES THIS PAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION. OUT OF STATE REQUESTS CAN BE PUT ON THE BACK BURNER A LITTLE BIT. WE GET A LOT OF REQUESTS. THERE'S SO MANY PODCASTS AND TV SHOWS ABOUT TRUE CRIME. IF WE HAVE A HIGH PROFILE CASE IN OUR COUNTY, WE GET A LOT OF REQUESTS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY FOR THOSE RECORDS. And then there's a lot of, they're trying to address data scraping. Companies are setting up websites that use AI to try and predict what road projects are going to come in at. So we get a lot of requests for just blanket bid documents for bridge projects and road projects. And so the legislature is trying to give us some tools to address these things. But again, this ordinance is just bringing our 3704 up into, to mirror what's in the Enana code.

just some spring cleaning or fall cleaning i guess on the title three there on subsection two uh well subsection one and two the one it looked like they crossed out the the certification of documents was 50 cents and now it's going to be five dollars yeah i think that number's from 1997. But then subsection two, it says copying 50 cents, and then it goes down to 10 cents.

Yeah. We're only allowed to charge 10 cents a copy. Do what? We're only allowed to charge 10 cents.

And I couldn't tell you where the 50 cents came from.

That's what I was going to say. So were we in violation before?

Well, that's why I was saying trust that we're following what's in the Indiana code.

Yeah, yeah.

We do. And most people aren't. And also... We're not getting people that are, very rarely get people that are requesting the documents be certified. Usually that's only going to be a situation where there's a court case and they need a certification.

And did they update that NDM code since the 90s?

Oh yeah, absolutely. And then, but to Glenn's point, this is not certification of recorder's documents. She has her own fee schedule that she has to abide by. And yeah, we've been doing... the 10 cent and 25 cent when it comes up, because that's what the state law is. But more, 99% of our requests are for electronic production.

So the $5 one, is that an up to $5?

No, it would be $5 per document.

No, I mean, but is the Indiana Code allow for us to go up?

The statute is up to $5, yes.

So, I mean, I'm just trying to think if there's a John Q. Public, one of our citizens, was coming in and getting these certified copies for 50 cents, and now we're going to raise it to $5, are we doing a disservice to our residents of Dearborn County?

And that can be, if I can find the statute, I'll tell you. But that can be, yeah, it could certainly be below that if you wanted it to be.

the certification and I didn't know if it's gonna upset I don't know what a good example is certifying the copy would be you know

again if it's a document that if it's a document that's not something they're getting from the recorder's office which again Joyce has her own fee schedule there my only thought where somebody would need a certified document would be if they needed a public record for a court case because there's rules you know as far as evidentiary rules as far as certification of documents and things like that that's the only scenario I mean John Q public is not going to need a certified copy of anything but I think you know I can see situations where If there's a question about a bridge project and that ends up in a lawsuit between neighbors, they may ask for a certified copy of something. I mean, that they would be submitting to court as evidence.

I think the $5 is reasonable.

I don't know if it's reasonable or not. I just see that it's going up 10 times what they were used to paying. But this is from 1997. I know, but still 10 times is a huge amount. And I don't know if we're going to get any repercussions from that from the residents, the taxpayers of the county. That's my concern.

I doubt that very many of them ever rise to that occasion. But I would like for the county to be in compliance.

I'm trying to find that statute, Mark.

Yeah, if we're talking about 10 documents a year versus 1,000 documents a year, it's not worth upsetting the apple cart as long as we're in compliance. And if it's an up to $5.00.

I can't remember the last time we had to certify anything to be quite honest.

So we've been in compliance all along on that one.

Yeah, it says that it's in 514.38 subsection D. It says fee for certification of documents may not exceed $5.00. So if you were more comfortable with a lower amount than that.

this affects or who it affects but it's just something to think about well apparently it's extraordinarily rare sounds like is that correct so the only discussion I think we have is do we go with what we've gotten prepared or do we want to

you know, change that one portion.

I'll make a motion we approve it as written.

Thanks, Mark. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Next thing on our agenda is salary ordinance.

Yeah, so this was something, this came to you late, just as it came up. We have an employee that's going to be having a medical procedure. They're going to be on leave for a while. But prior to being able to return directly or full time here at the government center, they will be able to work from home. Teleworking is something we've always handled as an amendment of the salary ordinance. We most recently did this with our employees at Dearborn County Soil and Water Conservation District when the federal government was shut down and they couldn't work in their office. So because it's medically related, I am being quite vague. But hopefully, I think anybody that had any questions had reached out and asked about them. But this would permit this person, when they're able to do so, to begin working again from home. Until such time, they're able to come back to the government center here and work in the office.

And all three commissioners have agreed that this would be an appropriate thing.

Can I ask, was this at the employee's request, or was this at the commissioner's request?

Sue and I talked about it, and we asked the commissioners and all three commissioners. HIPAA, HIPAA.

No, I know Connie's spoken with the commissioners individually, and they're all on the same page. And they wouldn't be making, you know, we wouldn't be making this request if the employee wasn't comfortable with it.

And I talked to Wagner, Irwin, and Shealy, too, and Sue will have to... what she's going to do from home. We're trying to make it.

To me, it's a reasonable accommodation.

She just does so much. I don't know who else would do that.

The thing I'm concerned about is it's almost like, OK, because this person has a busy job, this is going to help the county out. But we should be more concerned about the persons. health and welfare, first and foremost.

Yeah, it's all going to be based on what the doctor lets us know she's able to do.

And is there a term on this?

It would terminate automatically when she's authorized to return to office work. And again, that would come from her doctor.

And Wagner, when she said that too, that doctor has to release her? that she's good enough to work from home.

I mean, from a legal perspective, you feel like this is something that we won't have any repercussions from down the road?

No, because we would not be pushing this employee to do anything that their doctor hadn't signed off on, and that's the way that we're going to see it.

What about other employees down the road?

They've always, this is always, something like this has always been handled on a case by case basis and I think it would continue to do so. So you don't feel like we're setting a precedent? No. President, okay.

Is there a motion to approve this? I'll move it. Thank you, Glenn. Is there a second? Any other discussion? All those in favor of approving this salary ordinance for teleworking, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Did you have a different salary ordinance? We do. We do. It's always a clean one. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the new salary ordinance? We move. Thank you, Dennis.

Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Doug. Any discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. This is something everyone has to sign, right? Yes. So let's stay... here before, until, we have two items we need to sign?

Okay, we have several, okay. Okay, the minutes were emailed to everyone.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes?

So moved.

Second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Is that all of the business that we have? Okay. Do you want us to adjourn before we sign that? Yeah, you can adjourn. Can I ask a question? Yes.

Where are we at with replacing our maintenance man? I know that's probably a commissioner's issue, but anybody have information on that?

I think they're reviewing applications. Yeah, I think they've got a bunch of resumes.

Okay. Time frame when they'll have somebody in there? Pardon me?

Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if Eric's even started interviewing.

Kind of had to get the salary for the... They don't make this step first before they can officially move, I think.

But they were able to advertise. So obviously there's no late arrivals. So we can go ahead and adjourn, Connie, and then sign those papers. Is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second? Second.

That was Tim. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. We're adjourned, but please stay here until we're done. I guess these are some proposed dates for people to consider for the 27th. I'm sorry? These are some proposed dates for people to consider for the 27th. Yeah, it's just for you guys to look at.

You need a pen? I know Dennis and you probably don't care.

I care deeply, but I won't be here. I can't stop that. You guys don't let me know if that's okay with you.

for you. I can get a count for how many I have.