County Council - Regular Meeting

Amazon. How you doing?

Good job. I do the All of all of those contract.

Besley Well, we can't do the 300.

Amen. money I don't know. Whatever. memorized just as post They want you look to say that it would

be wrapped around us.

How long we been doing it yet? Good friend. Where you at, buddy? If I could buy if I could buy your in your ghetto, I'm sure you'd hook me up with one of her daughters graduated with money, but I didn't really know her.

Yeah, thanks. He's now right. shows the worst of it.

That's out of the process. This transportation infrastructure fund that was earlier 4916 request is for somebody asking for county jail in I think I think it's the monthly basis. I think

How you doing, Tommy?

I'm good. Sorry. No. is that that's one of the better They did a nice job on that.

Yeah.

It's 5 o'clock. We'll call this meeting to order and we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. If everyone will please stand. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. As a recipient of federal funds and in support of Deburn Countyy's efforts to ensure non-discrimination and equal access to all citizens, the county gathers statistical data regarding participants in county activities. Therefore, we've provided a voluntary title six public involvement survey at this meeting. You are not required to complete this survey. However, the form is anonymous and will be used solely for the purpose of monitoring our compliance with Title Six and ADA.

Thank you. First on the agenda tonight is um commissioners, there's an EMS lit request Jason, are you presenting?

Okay. Well, first on our list is Morris Hill Fire and EMS, Derek Stevens.

Good evening. Uh for those you don't know me, my name is Derek Stevens. I'm the assistant fire uh fire chief for Warsaw Fire EMS. Um, I'm coming to you guys tonight to hopefully get some assistance with an ambulance reading out. Um, we have a 2009 ambulance um that we've had some motor issues with and stuff like that. Uh, we feel that the box on it, the patient compartment's got a lot of life left in it. Um, sitting down on our department and stuff like that. We did a lot of research and things like that coming together as a whole. Um, and we feel that a remount would be the best possible option with us. Um, we've done a remount in the past. Um, our other ambulance was done in 2015. We use a company out of Northern Indiana called Crossroads Ambulance Sales and Service. Uh, now, um, they're selling for McQueen Equipment and Ambulance, um, solutions. Like I said, 2015, we had an ambulance remounted. We've had like great success with that ambulance and stuff like that. Had a lot of life in it. Um, when we got that box remounted, um, they delivered a quality product um, on time and stuff that we're still using today. We've had little to no issues with quality control. Um, I know with some of the other ambulance companies and stuff out there and the ones that have been purchased from what I'm hearing at the alliance meeting, um, they've had some quality control issues and stuff like that. So, we're hoping we'd be able to avoid that. Um, we looked at options of a brand new ambulance and we just didn't really feel that that would fit our needs at 100% right now. So, again, that's why we went with the remount. Um, we were also deciding on it's an E450 van style chassis and we're wanting to go with a gasoline engine as well. Um, one that's cheaper in the beginning. It's cheaper to maintain and stuff for the longevity of it and just feel that that would do us pretty well for what we're needing. Um, compared to cost a new ambulance that we were looking at um, if we would have went that route was 314,711. um compared to a complete remount that we're requesting for is $28,932.

Um and that would kind of get us where we need to go. Um since January of 22, our runs have went up to the years of 22 and 23. We had um 570 runs um for our area and going up from 24 to 25 to 6 um 42 runs helping um with assisting with coverage in Dillsboro and stuff like that and um the cover coverage in Sparta Township. just mileage and stuff going up on the single ambulance that we do have. Derek, did you say from 570 to 642? Um, yes sir. Uh, January of 22 to 23 was 570 runs total. Um, and then January uh year of 24 to 25. Uh, so far we're at 600 at the end of the season. Thank you for

um I know I brought a proposal and stuff um to you guys to see. I don't know if you had time to review that or whatever or if there was any questions that I could answer for you guys. Uh, what's your current squads? So, our current ambulance is a 2015 um F450 like pickup truck chassis on a remounted am um a box that we remounted from our prior ambulance. It's got around 60,000 miles on it, give or take. I'm I'm going to go up a little bit on I think it's 58 something. Okay.

How does how does the lead time compare? I know a lot of times with new squads, we hear we got to get this ordered now because it takes eight months or absolutely receive that. Um, so our lead time that we're looking at on the remount, um, if say if if we place the order tomorrow or whatever, we're looking at um, 18 to 20 months out, give or take, our possible, um, date of completion would be around August of 2027. Um, that is when we would take delivery of it, and we would have to, um, give them a check or whatever, paying for it, um, when we took that delivery. Um, final delivery would be to the Morsel Fire Department. Um, and that would be the balance due at completion of the 28,932. Um, the information and stuff that I have, the contract that I have for McQueen, um, that proposal date that they gave us, that quote was on October 15th of 25, and that date is good till November um, 15th of 25. Um, I know that seems kind of short and goofy, but the way they explain it to us, stuff is constantly going up and say if there was a chassis there and they were to get rid of it, obviously they have to get another one in. Um not necessarily the price is going to change, but um the time that we would get the ambulance in or out could possibly change.

It takes 18 to 20 months to do this. Yes, ma'am. Um even with the remount um to get it up and get the box to where it needs to be for the 20 say the 25 26 and and stuff like that how it needs to be and get it up to code. Um yeah, it's still quite a bit of lead time. I know compared to a newer one, you're looking probably three three years out something give or take if not four depending on the brand you go with. Um, we like this company as well because it was in northern Indiana if something was to happen. I know it's a little bit of a drive. Um, they've got a good service company and stuff that can come down and take care of it in house. Uh, and just being able to get the ambulance up there that we're wanting to remount and stuff like that, it just makes it a lot easier for us all the way around. And are you still using that 2015?

Yes, ma'am. We are. It's actively in service. Do you have a second squad that you're borrowing or anything or Um, so our second ambulance is down. the one that we're wanting to remount um for routine maintenance and stuff like that. Bright fire and EMS was generous enough to let us use an ambulance. Actually, we still have it um to get oursed um so our primary squad had to go out of service. While we did that, we borrowed a squad from Brite um and and stuff like that. We have now got ours back. Everything's good to go. Um obviously got tires on it and stuff for when just a routine maintenance, make sure it's safe for everybody. Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Stevens? I got one, please. Yes, sir.

Uh, what's what's the situation with the units sitting out in front of the firehouse?

So, those ambulance when we got them, um, we got them used. We've never been really one on buying a new ambulance. Um, as we got those, um, we used ambulance and stuff like that, it was kind of older when we got it. Um, because the one we had had before had just kind of ran its course. I would say it was a '9s model and we just kind of run it till it couldn't run no more. Um, we got that ambulance. Once we got it, we ran it for some time, multiple multiple years, and then it got to the point where as far as fixing it to get it to where it was staying roadworthy, that it was good for our employees, it was good and stuff like that for the folks in the back that we were trying to get to the hospital, it just didn't seem cost effective to just keep trying to limp it along. Um, and just like anything, trying to get rid of something like that is is difficult. It's a narrow market for something that necessarily can't be used as an ambulance anymore. um and just trying to get it sold to somebody maybe in the comm in the community. Um I know we have multiple people in the northern part of the county that like to use them for service trucks and stuff like that. Um so that's we would like to get rid of that, but that's kind of answering on that one.

What about the one you guys had it twisted wrench?

So that is the one that I'm talking about that we've had a lot of issues with. Um to be honest, we've spent probably 30 plus thousand dollars. Um, that model of ambulance has a Ford Powerstroke motor and a six liter is what they would call it. Has a lot of known issues. Well, we had an issue. We tried to keep up on maintenance best we could. I'm not even going to say the best we could. We kept up on maintenance and it still went kabooy on us. I'll be honest. So, um, we took the money from the fire department and stuff like that. I believe the town um was gener generous enough to give us some as well. We put an allnew motor system in it. Um, we had a company out of Ripley County, Twisted Wrench, that helped us um before we went to them. We know Ripley County EMS used them for services on their ambulances and stuff like that. Thought we were going to do the right thing. Um mind you, we have a goose egg now that we've spent 30 plus thousand on um that is now bit to dust again. Um after we put a brand new freight engine in it and it is at another uh local diesel shop that has told us, hey, it can be this, this, and this. Um it could be injectors, but basically it did the gave us sealed six liter issues again. So that's why we were coming to try to be able to use that ammo as best we could by transferring the box off off of it to continue it because it is a very nice box. It has years of service left in it. Um and to just be cost effective with with the money.

Any other questions? Just um so if this approved tonight, that price is solid for the next two days. Two days. But the price itself that they told you to transfer the box is good even though it's going to take 20 to 24 months. Yes sir. Yes sir. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Is there ever concern I don't know that the box won't live up to the life of the chassis that you're putting it on or is that not a

So those ambulance most ambulance boxes can be remounted one to two times depending on the condition of them and stuff like that. When we talk to them there there's no reason because once they go through that box they go through everything basically strip it down. electronics are redone all all basically using the frame of it the best they can. Um so no we've never had any issues with that whatsoever. Um that was not even brought up. Uh when we spoke with the folks from Crossroads Ambulance Services, they said it should give us plenty of life left. Um and no different than our 2015 that we had had remounted as well. We're hoping to get another 10 to 15 years out of that that ambulance to keep it going as well.

Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, we have another Thank you very much. We have another uh request from Green Del Mr. Craig. Actually, Andy will be request name. Could you state your last name? Brook Bank. Thanks.

My name is Andy Brookbank with Greenale EMS. Um currently serve as the treasurer for the for the department as well as work as an EMT. Uh I'd like to start by saying thank you for you guys for stepping up for the uh support to EMS for the citizens uh Dearborn County by generating funds through the tax. It is it has been a game changer for not only the members of the community but for the departments to provide better services and more readily available services. Um, 3D LMS started in 1986 as an all volunteer organization uh as a private entity and it developed into a paid part-time EMS service that takes pride in providing care to those in need uh not just in Greenell but all of our neighboring communities as well. Uh last few years we have averaged around 625 responses for the year. Uh through the first 10 months of 2025 we are well over 700 calls. Um so roughly 170 more than where we were at last year. Um so for the entire year. So and that number is just going to continue to to go up. Um so the LIP money has provided that has been provided by the county has enabled us to retain our tenur staff of roughly 20 part-time personnel. Uh we've also been able to increase the part-time staffing to a total of about 31 members that uh work any variation of shifts from one to uh 10 or 15 a month, sometimes more just depending on who's in or out in availability. Um why I'm here tonight is to kind of ask for some support on behalf of our department to purchase a new ambulance. Uh little back history. Three years ago, uh the board members, we were looking at the potential growth and increased response volume uh for our area and what we would need to provide that care that

that everybody deserves to get. Um at that point, we had a 2001 and a 2006 ambulance. U the 2006 was having some issues, so we replaced it. We purchased a new ambulance. uh that cost us around $275,000. Um later that year, we began to speak with uh some companies and got quotes and started the process of purchasing a second ambulance to replace the 2001 ambulance that was a little bit more reliable at that point in time. Um so, um we got we got to the point where uh the industry hurdles, we're still waiting for that ambulance. Um, so

when did you order it? Uh, it was 20 June 7th of 2022. Yeah. Our deadline or deadline for them to have it manufactured done and inspected is April 29th next year. Um, we've been dealing with and other departments have been dealing with tariffs uh for a few years back. I'm sorry. We're going to our procedure is for you to go. I'll come up and state your name as well.

My name is Thomas Craig. I'm EMS president Greenale EMS. So, we had ran into um tariff issues as we all know that are out there. Um and Ford chassis, lack of Ford chassis. When we placed the order, Ford was the only one that was building chassis at the time. Chevy was having issues, so they took everything off the line in 2022 and Dodges were like way backward. Um, so we have ran into issues time and time um with getting this ambulance built. Um, we're hoping this is the end of the light at the end of the road. April 29th is the deadline to take delivery of this ambulance. That's kind of the gist of what's going on. or

that one is in the works. Yes, it is already. Yeah. Contract signed everything. So, yeah. And they're honoring your purchase price from 2022. No. No. They do not lock those in because of chassis issues and tariffs. So, what it is is it's gone up from 275 to 331,000. Yeah. So, I have a question and EMS. Is that part of the city of Grant Hill? We are privatized. We um we are not a part of the municipality out there. We are What about the fire department? The fire department is We're not a part of the fire department. So it says does that say Greeno EMS?

Yeah, we we're together in in the same building. Uh but we are two separate entities. Excuse I can't tell what you Yeah, it's Greenale Fire and Rescue. So the fire is part of the city. Yes, the EMS. Does the city fund you guys? No, they do not. All they give us is $400 a month for fuel on our fuel bill and that's it. And obviously they give us a building to house our equipment and our personnel. So it does have value and then we get the dollar off of every utility bill per month of each household in the city of Greenale. Did Did you have to uh put down a deposit on this?

No. No. You pay for it when they delivery. Have you ever considered becoming part of the city? Um, we have tried that many years ago with past mayoral administration. They were quickly to say no. We did that with the past mayor and they said no again. So, I'm just a little surprised that Well, yeah, it's Yeah. What about this mayor? We have not approached this, mayor, yet because it seems like it would be great to be under the same umbrella. There would definitely be some benefits to that. There's some benefits to it, but So, yeah.

So, you didn't have to put any money down, but obviously when you ordered it, you started filling the piggy bank hopefully with something. Is there money set aside for this unit?

Yes, we we have money set aside for it. Uh, as well as we we received a $75,000 grant from the community foundation. Um so like currently the bill for it would be around $256,000 um with what's remaining. So um you know so recently and that keep in mind that's just the bare bones ambulance. That's none of the equipment that's in it. Most of the equipment we're able to just take out of the old ambulance and and place in the new one. Uh with the exception of like the cot loading system and things like that. uh they're pretty well old and outdated um and past their their service life. Uh so we just recently purchased one of those. Uh just the loading system in Cot was just over $70,000. So it it's just everything hurts when it comes to medical field and buying equipment for it. So, um, and that's why we we came here tonight, just to see if if and and what, uh, what's available as far as support for the EMS, uh, for towards this squad. Um, you know, it's one of those we've got money that we can put towards it, too. Uh, there's other items we we have to we currently are looking at purchasing the uh the cot loading system for the current ambulance that we have uh because the other ones were bought at the same time. So it's it's near the end of its life expectancy too.

So what year is your good ambulance you have? 2024. Yeah. Yeah. When is this bill due? The bill will be due when we take delivery. So the delivery the end of the It's April 29th is the deadline as of right now. It it's one of the that's been like I said that's been pushed out three times on us. And so you have that new one coming in. Then you're asking for this one as well. This is towards the new one that this will be it. Yeah. So we we've got we've got the one that we we took uh ownership of uh approximately two years ago. Yeah. So this is this would be for the one that you currently have ordered.

Yeah. And when would it be delivered? April 29th is the deadline of 25 of 26.6. Yes. What what year will this ambulance be then? A 2025. It's a 2026 Ford chassis. Okay. So, the chassis is just now being chassis have gone up. I think it was a little over $18,000. And then what's the life expectancy on one? Like 10 12 years or um ours last over 20 years. Yeah. You just got to take care of them. Yeah. Is this gas or diesel? It's a gasser. Yeah. Um, but mind you, as the runs go up and we all are encountering that, that more means more wear and tear on those ambulances. So,

so everybody knows that Greenale is not that far from Sandy Dearborn and it's you can almost see it from from where we're at. Um, and we we've got over 20,000 miles on this ambulance in in the couple years that we've had that that ambulance. So, we're essentially running the wheels off of it. Um, you know, the the hope is that once we get the new one, we get into a rotation to where the primary ambulance changes out. That way, we're not just wearing one down the whole time. So, you current you your ideal is two ambulances. Yeah, we we currently have a second ambulance um that's got some mechanical issues, uh some reliability issues, and we we use it

as needed. Um but it's it's not in a daily, weekly, or monthly rotation with the current primary ambulance. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you guys, gentlemen. Mr. Meyers from Lawrenceburg Fire Department.

Hello. So, uh similar to situation with the uh the other two departments, but we're going to we're approaching ours a little bit differently. So, what you see in front of you on the agenda is the 349,000. That's going to be the cost of the complete project. um we were just going to try to solicit 100,000 to put towards it. Um that's 35% of the project. Uh what we're doing is um we have two Chevrolet that's uh Chevrolet ambulances that have been remounted in the past. Uh they're both early 2000 um boxes on those trucks. And uh we're running into a lot of issues with the diesel exhaust systems. Those are both early stage um diesel exhaust systems. So they power down. We've had a lot of issues. use our garage is having to make parts for them. Uh they're not really a good setup. So, currently we have three ambulances total. What we're going to do is replace those two Chevrolet ambulances and go down to two total ambulances rather than three insurance equipment. It's just too costly to try to to uh maintain three ambulances for what we uh for what we use them for. We're averaging about 2400 runs a year u that we make. So, what our plan is is to uh take these two, put it into this other ambulance, and then um rotate between the two of those. They both will be ALS units as well. And the new one that we're looking at is a it's not a demo, it's a stock unit. So, we're going to we're going to put it out for bid and we'll get actually take delivery of it next fall, the fall of 2026. Um so, what we're planning on doing with that is just buying it. That way we don't have what what Tommy's running into at Greenale where you get strung along for two, three, four years on an ambulance. We're just going to buy a stock truck that they already have built. It's pretty close to what we need. So, we're just going to roll with that. It'll be a gas engine uh ambulance. We don't have to worry about the uh diesel exhaust systems in it. And we're probably just going to move our

loading systems over into the new ambulance so that we can reuse those and try to get max life capacity out of those. Um, so that's what we're looking at, but we're looking at, like I say, we're only looking to solicit a h 100,000 uh on ours and the the city will go ahead and and we'll pay for the rest of the the balance of the request that we show is 34.

Yeah. That's the entire project, but our request is a h 100,000. Yes. And then what we'll do is uh we'll go ahead and put the rest of our money towards it um towards the rest of the ambulance because I believe this is the first time that Lawrenburg's ever approached the county for funding. Um, but I I currently am the deputy chief. I'll be taking over as the fire chief in a couple of weeks. And uh we've merged our departments together this year. So now our fire department is our fire and EMS is just the fire department. Now is this part of the city of Lawrenburg? You're not separate. Right.

Pat, you said 2400 runs. So if you get a call for a lift assist or something like that, do we always send a box unit? Do you have to send a squad for like that?

Sometimes. Uh it just kind of depends if we send we'll usually send a transport ambulance because sometimes lift assist don't end up being lift assist. It ends up being transports. But if our ambulance is busy, we will either we most of the time we will send our fire engine out to cover it. Um our fire engine is uh currently BLS non-transport. So we have the same BLS equipment on our fire engine that would that an ambulance would carry that's BLS. So sometimes we'll send our engine out. Uh we're working on we've gotten some uh we're trying to get some raises for our part-time guys which we have secured that that'll take effect in January and we're hoping to be able to start staffing our second ambulance out as well. Uh so hopefully that'll that'll help us as well. We just honestly we get hammered on mutual aid and we get um you know we with the nursing all with all the nursing homes that we have in our district we just get we get beat down with calls. So,

is everything located on Tate Street or are you Yes, we have uh so we keep the our for now our third ambulance and then our reserve fire equipment at the Hilltop station next to the hospital. So, our our on call people that come back in staff those units, but all of our staffing, our chase car, our uh transport ambulance, and our fire engine are all staffed out of the Tate Street location for now. We're looking into some other things in the future, but right now that's where everything's at. Any other questions? There are no questions. Thank you very much. Thank you.

I would like to just kind of recap a little bit about the EMS lit. In 2023, Don County Council was given the opportunity from the state to enact a 0.2 lit, that's the max rate, which we did. So prior to that time we were not in a position to help with the staffing or any part of EMS services other than what we have done out of riverboat uh over the years and helping with you know reimbursement for training with the 24 was the first year of funding from the EMS lit and in that first year most of the money is going to staffing there's a very little bit that's remaining that we were able to help a couple of units purchase an ambulance. The MS Lit's primary purpose as we were guided with the study from Mr. Hannneathan was that the primary need in Don County was staffing and not as much equipment that the volunteers that we have relied on for years for both fire and EMS is kind of a thing of the past. People have uh don't have the time. the training I think has gotten um you demands are very very high. I know a friend of mine went to the EMS school. I think it was a milein and she had to pay for it herself and then of course if she you know ran then she could get reimbured. So most of the monies have been divided amongst with a formula with the alliance working with the commissioners to and correct me if I'm wrong about any of this because I don't deal with any of this you know the nitty-gritty but primarily the funding that is or the monies that are generated for thems vast majority virtually all of it goes towards staffing. So there's not a whole lot that is available for anything other

than staffing. So whatever um methods people have used in the past to try to purchase ambulances is something that will probably end up having to hopefully, you know, have people look at trying to do again. I think it's great that the city of Lawrenburg is able to help you with your funding. Some um of our AMS units don't have the ability to have that kind of municipal backup. they're having to, you know, deal with, you know, with no tax base of their own to speak of. So, it's it's very very difficult for as far as county council. We have, I think in the past, approved three different life squads, but they were for rural entities that didn't have any kind of tax base, were not part of a municipality. So, there's not very much money left. uh the controller has done a computation and there's not enough money to to do everything that's being asked tonight. So, it's puts um it it makes it a very very hard decision. The the state would like for us in every category of funding to end a year with at least a 10 or 15% of what that fund generates. And we're we're pretty much at that point right now without spending another nickel. So it's I I just want you to understand where we're our position is too. We're very much for and understand the um difficulties that we are in to provide EMS service for our citizens. And that's why we passed the EMS lit. The first time we were able to pass it, we passed it and we passed the max lit and we are distributing it according to the formula with the alliance and the commissioners to make it fair across the

county to provide services for all of our citizens. The squad purchases are um very very difficult to have enough money to do those. the first year of the of funding was in 24 and so we didn't have we were receiving monies before we had everything staffed. So that's why there was initially initially a little bit of um leeway as far as monies. But today as we're funding the staffing there's very little left for anything other than staffing. So this is a incredible accomplishment in that time. I mean the number of units to ALS and and uh

and the run the the quickness of the runs and the percentage of of runs being made. Yeah. The responses. I mean our citizens are being well served by our EMS. I mean I'm very proud of what's being accomplished and I think that you know the county deserves some credit in order to help fund that. But the reality is is that fund is it generates about three $3 million a year and we're spending virtually all of it on staffing. So there's not a whole lot left to purchase squads. There's no way we could, you know, p or even if Lawrenburg is going down to 100,000, there's no way for us to to to do this. There's not enough money. So,

so everything's spoken for every year.

There's a balance. Well, the first year there was more fluff. There was there was more available funding because nothing was up and running. It was brand new and it took us a while to get get it out the gate. So there was some money in the early part of 24 that we had, you know, that hadn't been obligated to staffing. Now that virtually all of it is going, excuse me, going to staffing, LEA projects that at the at the end of the year, we would have $295,000 left in that account out of a $3.4 million fund. That's all that would be left with everything that's being allocated toward the staffing. the Hannah from the reports. It was the primary

and that's been allocated evenly across all the units. No, no unit received one more than Does this need to stay in there? Can this be spent? It can be spent, but you're what you're

We're already below the recommended balance of 10 to 15%. when they come in in the first day of budget and Baker Chile does the rundown of you maintaining 10% of your your fund balance without going into whole tutorial about county budgeting and everything else in 2026 our lit our local income tax monies are actually lower typically lit goes up every year flat would be bad lower is very bad and the state has decided that our lit is going to be less in 26 than it was in 25. And the reason for that is the out of sway um compact or whatever. So it's complicated but um that's that's the reason and that's going to be a trend probably for the next two I think at least two or three years as the state phases in that out of state lit um credit. So that's where different county government is today.

Do we get this once a year? It comes in every month. Is it quarterly or monthly? Monthly. And this is a projected balance for the end of the year. So u just a quick recap, we heard three different entities talk and uh you guys got a 2024 ambulance currently. Lawrenburg has two old ones and one newer one. And your newest one's 2015. Is that sir my understanding?

And and they got a retrofit trying to get by and no tax and no no other way of uh funding anything. So I mean if we can only spend we only have $295,000 projected. So we don't want to get close to that even. So the the least expensive one is Morris Hill. and it sounds like they've got the greatest need just but based on what was presented here tonight. So I I mean if if we're going to do anything I I guess that makes the most sense to me.

I I understand what you're saying. I I tend to agree with you. I think that it's unfortunate that we're not in a position to help everyone. But this I hope that you understand what I was trying to explain. This is the situation the county's in. So to Mark's point, we would be able to help uh Morris Hill and Morris Hill does not have a tax base to speak of. So they're really in the probably in the worst shape as far as being able to fund it themselves. I mean, legally, we could do at least one. What's our total contracted obligation for LIT for the EMS's? So, if we took all the units and we totaled up the total amount that we would have to pay all of them with that contract, how much is that how much is that?

I don't have that information tonight. every unit gets the like to Tim's point, every unit gets the same uh for staffing, but there's a I don't remember how that actually works, but there is amount there is like a staffing requirement. There's a they have to have a certain um response time and everything else to qualify to get reimbursed. My question is if we total those contracts dollar-wise, are we reaching that with the lit amount that we're collecting or or on on the personnel as far as staffing

as far as equipment? That's that's something that the lit is not geared to to take care of, especially as many units as there are in the county. And part of the reason we're not quite reaching the full amount, Glenn, is because we require that the that portion be primarily used for for payroll and not everybody can even find enough help, right? So some of the more remote areas aren't staff can't be fully staffed and so they're not able to use all those funds, but we're trying to keep everybody's percentage the same. Everybody's getting the same amount of help on the staffing side for to cover the minimum people on staff. I guess my point is what good staffing if you don't have the equipment to do your job

right well the honestly I thought at the beginning of the lit it was for buying equipment when it first started well the report the study that was that we had done that was funded by the community foundation grant showed that the biggest need in the county was staffing and that's why the bulk of the money has gone to staffing that can be that can be revisited But that's that's the status that we're in for 2425 and whatever the commissioner decided.

Part of that reason is like I forget if it was Amy who said this or somebody else but community foundation and other entities will step up and they're happy to do a one-time support to buy a piece of equipment but no one wants to fork over money for ongoing staffing. So if the if the lead funds can fund the staffing portion, it's they have a better chance of getting financial support for the physical equipment. What's the situation with the Dillsburg EMS? No idea.

So before sign, we have three requests for Excuse me. Like I'm sorry, I've got really bad allergies. We have three requests for squads and limited resources. So, the uh council will have to make a decision if there's u will to help fund any or or none or we can't fund it all. I I echo Mark's comments. I mean, we're all here because we want to help out. You guys are all doing an incredible job of mutual aid and and getting each other's backs and we want to provide everybody with as much help as we possibly can, but from from the present presentations we've seen tonight, it seems like the highest and greatest need currently is in Morris Hill and when some more funding comes in, we can look at how we might be able to distribute that in the future. We can't commit anything to the future, but I'm going to make a motion that we approve the the uh $28,932 for Morris Hill because I believe they're showing not the greatest need at this time.

I'll second it. Have a motion and a second for funding Morris Hill for 28,932 out of the MS lit. Is there any other discussion? If not, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. I want to thank everyone who's involved with EMS in the county for your service. I know it's a very difficult job. I wish we were in a position to do more, but like I said, the county did pass the highest lit rate we were able to pass and we have generated quite a bit of funding to help with the staffing and that's the position we're in today. So hopefully everyone understands and if you have anything you want to talk to us about later that that would be fine. But thank you for your service and anyone who's here for this purpose and wants to leave feel free to leave. You're welcome to stay but don't feel like you have to. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Next on our agenda is the conservancy district. Mr. to go to Glenn to answer your question for contracts for next year. It's just under 2.9 million. It's the contracts for next year for staffing. Okay. And what's all of the units? I was just going through what we put together 2026. And what's our income based on this year? 3.4. So half million left over. Okay. So, just wanted to let you know. Yep. Thank you, Andy. Hi, Mr. Seymour.

How are you? Uh, first off, my first statement will be I appreciate being put on the agenda and I appreciate the time you're giving me tonight. I'm here for one reason. Uh, I think you guys know that the conservancy district right now is in the process of chasing a grant. probably the most important project that's happened in this area since 1937. Um, we're trying to get the levy certified and we've identified some projects on two levies. And what uh what I'm here for tonight is to request a special meeting uh work session of some kind and hoping that you and the commissioners I' I'd like to get the council and the commissioners together because I have grant experts and I have engineers that I feel like in order for us to ask the questions that we need to ask in the coop cooperation and the participation from you guys. I feel like that we need to be able to answer any questions you have and educate you on the importance of this project. Um there's a uh things wear out. We we've got a levy system that's over 85 years old. It's needing some things and we uh are grant the grant experts and the grant application. I I do have a grant application here in front of me that stresses the importance of community uh working together. So the this is a very very large grant. It's one that I'd like to see. Been working real hard trying to get a lot of participation. We hope we end up getting your

participation. But right now, what I'm asking for is the ability to have a meeting to to answer questions and and educate about what we need to do to move forward. So, uh my simple ask tonight is is would you be willing to have a special meeting in combination with the with the uh commissioners? And one statement I'd like to make is is that I talked to my grant team today and they do have availability in in the December month. Um and I was hoping if you decide to grant and and it and I'm on the schedule to actually go to the commissioners meeting on the 18th. So I will be asking them the same thing. Uh, and I'm hoping that I can hook up my experts with whoever would do your scheduling and see what you guys could do and bring them into town. I would have to bring them uh from the East Coast, so they'd be flying in and hopefully set up a meeting to where we can have a a discussion. And um I'm here to answer any questions and and that's my goal. Uh the grant we're chasing is probably going to end up being in that at this moment right now we're looking at 707 $75 million, but what if the grant doesn't come through for a couple years? Everything goes up. So we're we're uh we've got an awful big project, an awful important job to do, and we're working pretty hard to do it. So, we're looking we're looking for that uh cooperation and and uh communication here. So, I I just want to know if there's a possibility that we could set this up. That's that's my ask tonight.

Okay. I don't think we can give you an answer. I think that we're willing to do something like that, but I can't tell you that we, you know, can or will in a certain date or whatever, but we could coordinate with our council and the commissioners and try to come up with a date if it's going to be more if it's a task force where you're looking for one commissioner and three council members. But if you're looking for full counsel in all three commissioners, I'm looking everybody here's got to vote and I encourage everybody to ask us to

legally I'm saying that legally if it was a task force with three in one that's a different animal legally if it's seven and three that's going to have to be advertised and coordinated and everything else. Absolutely. So your ask is seven and three. I I I definitely am asking that. Okay. Well, do you have your phone number? Definitely. Sue's got my phone number and and if I go to the commissioner's meeting, it sounds like you're willing you're willing to if the schedules all work out. Is that I'm certainly willing to listen. Absolutely. Everybody's okay with that, then that's I can't promise you any money, but I can listen.

No, I'm I'm not asking for any money yet. I feel like anybody making these decisions needs to have all the information they can have before they make that decision. Trina showed us how important levies are. Okay. All right. That's all that's all I needed. Okay. Thank you. We'll try to work. Is there a match on that grant, Mr. There's a match on the grant? I mean, do you do you have the the uh percentages?

We Yeah, it's 25%, but we're not just chasing one grant. We're we're preparing to approach whatever comes available. As of right now, we've been approached by Aaron Houchin's office. Uh, and we've had meetings with a fellow named Michael Grim and been in touch with Van Beern. Um there's there's other things and and what we're trying to do right now, we we are completing a costbenefit analysis, a hazard mitigation, and we're putting things together and trying to be ready for when something comes available if Aaron Hen calls and she's been to town here and she's met with us. We want to be ready and part of being ready is is this community participation. Uh, and that's that's what we're looking to have this meeting for, to educate everybody on what that involves.

So, and I've got copies of the resolution that I could leave and and if people get chances to look at them between now and then or something, you have seven copies. I got enough for everybody. You have one to leave with auditor as well. That's what I'll do. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Paul. Thank you. Thank you, Josh.

And you're welcome to stay or you're free to leave as well, whatever you want to do. Next on our agenda is the corner. Leo, are you presenting Um, the corner has a couple transfer requests. Um, he has extra money in drug testing and he would like to transfer that into his part-time wages to cover the rest of the year.

Is there a motion to approve that? Motion. Second. Any questions? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. Second request. Um the second one is he would like to um transfer money in a supply account into his miscellaneous operating to cover remaining bills for the year. Could that go from the a 2500 account to a with you guys' approval? It can. Okay. Gotcha. Otherwise, he could just do it. Gotcha. Yeah, that's right. I'll make a motion to that. Is there a second? I'll second. A motion a second. Any other conversation about this? All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Motion passes. Thank you. Miss Lee, are you the sheriff? I'm the sheriff today, too. Um the first request is um 20 Well, what's he got? 25,836 for part-time to get through the rest of 2025. Um he sent an email today. They have kind of reorganized some of their staff and replaced two full-time employees with a part-time person, and he didn't put that into his budget. So, who needs this money to cover the rest of the year and that fund can hold it? Yes. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the first request from the sheriff? So, moved. There a second.

Any questions or comments? All those in favor signify saying I. I. Motion passes. Um, the second is for holiday funds to cover the jail's last holiday of the year. Um, we've been moving money around as much as we can between his vacancies and stuff, but there's no more money we can move. Okay. Is there a motion to approve this request? Sheriff move. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Motion passes. You present the health department. wear a lot of hats. I know. Um the health department earlier this year was given a $50,000 check from VIMDOS when they dissolved and they want to have you appropriate $20,000 of that into an account for oral health um supplies.

Okay. Obviously, no county money is involved in this. Um, is there a motion to approve the request from the health department? So moved. Second, Doug. Any um discussion? All those in favor of signify by saying I. I.

Motion passes. Court services. Let's see Mr. Pel. Good evening. Appreciate your time. So, I'm here today for two different requests. Um I'll start with my health insurance request. Um I'm currently um looking at the health insurance cost for this year um for Dear County Court Services. We have um a cost of $243,534 in health insurance that we pay for. um out of a lot of different funds. Um I have uh about nine or eight different uh grant funds that we use uh for programming that covers 11 uh full-time staff members uh within Debring County Court Services. That covers uh staff members from our jail chemical addiction program, uh community corrections, um intensive probation program, veterans court program, drug court program. Um in total that's 11 staff members. It's just under a million dollars that of funding that we get through those grants to cover those uh full-time positions. Um we one of the problems with the grants uh they're great because they provide us with 11 full-time staff that we would not have uh otherwise and we would have to shut down some of these programs if we did not have those full-time staffs. The issue with it is is they don't always cover the full cost of the health insurance. So we're constantly every year I'm working with the auditor's office. I'm working with Leah uh working with probation user fees, the grant funds that are available to pay for the health insurance. Um and then working with county council on how to pay for those health insurance uh cost um in 2024 and then it rolled over additionally 2025. Uh county council was gracious enough to approve $65,656 to cover uh health insurance. Um the

request today is that um we're requesting an additional $30,000 which would um get us through 2025 um the health insurance needs for to reach a total of 243,534. Um and then I got to start game planning for 2026 how I'm going to cover these costs. Um, you know, it's it's a constant um it's a constant thought process of how we're going to cover the health insurance because they're so expensive. And I and I know that's not lost to you guys because you guys get that more than anybody. How expensive health,000 for just like a month and a half. What's that? You need $30,000 for just

Well, the way the way it is is we're build for the year. um we're build for the year and and Leah's at the point where she's taking the money out of all those accounts to to pay our total cost. Um and what we're short after I pay for out of the grant funds and user fees were short about Let me ask you about 2026. So I think you requested the same 65,000. So we back at the same conversation for 2026. For 26 I'm not sure yet. For 26 I' I've got a few options. I hope not. Right. Um you know I've thought about this. Um, I thought about too,

right? So, you know, we serve. So, you know, we thought about um I'll be honest with you, I've got an employee right now who's been very honest with me uh about applying for different positions. He's had some life circumstances changes and moving back to Kentucky. So, he's looking at different options, and I've considered not replacing that position when he leaves and putting that money towards health insurance instead. The problem with that is is I would then have to cap how many people go on hold detention. Currently, we serve about 120 people on home detention. If I left and I now have if if that officer left and I did not replace him and I had to cap it to say 80, that's theoretically 40 more people a day that has to serve their time in the county jail times $55 times 365. You're looking at about $600,000 at your local jail cost. Because I can serve an offender on home detention for just under $14 a day. Um the county jail from my understanding it's about $55 a day and you guys know that number better than I do.

Sheriff's association said $65. So 65. So it's probably more like $750,000 to serve. One point I would like to make and I'm not doing this in Steve's defense, but I am going to say it because it puts him and every other one in his position and in a difficult situation. The state has not raised the level of funding since what 10 or so years. It's $515,000 and it's been the it's been flat. Right. Right. We were at the expenses are not flat, but the the grants been flat for like 10 or 12 years. Right. Specifically through the community corrections which is funded through the Indiana Department of Corrections. Um we were

Don't even get me started on what they pay for per day for level six. We've been funded that about $493,371. Um, as far as I can go back on the paperwork, I I I've been doing I've been the director since 2013 and I was able to find paperwork from the early 2000s. We've been about that fund. We did get a 5% increase in 2019, but as you can imagine, 5% increase over the course of 30 to 40 years is not going to cut.

And as a reminder, everyone on council, a lot of his staff are considered state employees. We don't even set their pay. And there was a year when they got a raise and we couldn't afford to give our own county employees a raise. But we had to give them a raise because the state says their salary but it doesn't pay for them. Right. That's that is their probation officers. Yeah. Major heartb.

Yeah. So it's it's one of those things. It's it's do we um I'm asking for the funding for this year to get us through 2025. The additional 30,000 out of county general. um in 2026, I've got to start planning for what we're going to do. Um or else I'll be back here next November requesting, you know, additional 30,000. I don't want to put a cap. Some um counties for their community corrections put a cap on how many people they'll serve. I don't put a cap on that. We have about 120 now. We've served up to 140. Um but I cannot serve 120 people with uh two case managers. Um that would just be too much work for two people to do. Um, so if I capped it, that would allow me to use those um salary funds towards health insurance, but then what we would essentially do is shift the cost to the county jail.

I'd rather stay on home incarceration. So that's your motion to approve it out of county general. Thank you, Dan. I'll second that. Thank you, Doug. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. motion is county general.

The the second request I have, which is much easier, um is out of $15,000 out of the opioid uh settlement funds. And this specifically is for a program that is designed specifically for the use of that money. Essentially, what we are doing is we're starting a partnership with Encompass Health um where we will um a part of one of the things that we do within Dear County Court Services is pre-trial services. And a part of that pre-trial process, everybody who's booked into the jail who does not automatically meet the bond schedule and doesn't automatically get released, we do free trial assessments on those individuals. One of the things that we have found is a about 22% of the population um in the county jail who gets booked in has a mental health issue. Um, so what we're wanting to do is when somebody is booked in and they're screened out as having a mental health issue through this partnership with this $15,000, we will pay we will give the information to Encompass, pay encompass to come over, do a mental health assessment on them, make recommendations on certain level of care that they need, and then that information will go to the defense attorney, and the defense attorney can use that at their hearings to tell the judge, hey, uh, my person's bipolar, schizophrenic, and compass just says this is the level of care we need. The judges can then make a more informed um decision on whether they want to keep those people in the incarcerated or release them to say like an inpatient unity house or something like that. So, it's really just um just a way to provide a better level of care for the severe mental health people who

I think it's great to see some work with encompass on you know people who need that service. So, I think and plus restricted opioid monies are harder to justify. So, see what's the what's the fund balance in the restricted opioid fund? You know, that's something Leah would because several other people are. I don't have the exact uh amount, but the uh the restricted versus the unrestricted. The restricted fund is a um I think it's just under 800 or just over 800,000 I believe. Um they're very defined on what you can use those funds on. So, this is this is more stringent fund. So, if you can justify use out of restricted, this is definitely where you want to go.

I'll make a motion for Steve's request for 15,000 to be transferred from the 1237 fund to mental health professional assessments. Have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Kell. All right. Appreciate it, guys. juvenile center.

Ladies and gentlemen, nice to see you. Uh my name is Josh Bashars. I'm the director of the uh Turman County Juvenile Center. I have two requests uh this evening. One is for um our part-time funds. need an additional $30,000 to carry us through the year. Um, on that one, basically, we still have we had still have vacation and personal hours have to be paid out. Uh, at the time we wrote this, there were still 369 vacation hours and personal hours that still had to be filled. We've also had, I mean, there were some hiccups. Um, I had three sta full-time staff members out on FMLA this year, uh, for the full length of time, each out for 12 weeks. So, that put a big damper in our budget as far as funding, uh, part-time hours to cover the hours that that we're that we're missing. Um, and that should get us through the rest of the year.

Do they get paid when they go out on an FMLA? They do. Yes. For the whole time. So, they just have to pay. It's a it's a it's a percentage. They get a percentage of that pay. Um I don't know exactly. So basically for once Bob pay twice and yes I mean not totally it's not 100%. I don't know what the exact number is. Um but it does they get paid if they have their own time.

Yeah. They get paid out of uh sick time and things like that. Um so again that that's three. Um, I mean there there's there's been other staffing issues just as far as maintaining a full-time roster of of you know full-time employees. Do you uh do you find a lot of your people wait their vacations till the end of the year? Yes. That's why right now we have 369 vacation hours. Everybody wants to wait till the holidays for the most part. So that's where we're at. Do you limit how many can be off? You'd have to.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. I mean, typically each staff is three three people. And again, we're a 247 facility. We don't close. So, you know, we do 12-hour rotations, three full-time staff on each rotation. Um, so no more than one person can take off on that shift, but then you will still have people calling six. So, then we have to call in a part-time fill in those hours. pretty there too.

I mean, yeah, this year, I mean, we've already exceeded what um I had told you last year when I accepted the position that we'll generate $500,000 a year in revenue. So, this year for through the first three quarters through September 30th, we've generated $55,000 in revenue so far through the center. You're primarily out of state, I mean, out of county. Yes. Yes. So, we don't get any revenue from local. I would say like uh uh as far as our residents go, it's about a 50-50 split. About half are typically Dearborn County and Ohio counties. And then other county has to pay.

Yes, Ohio County does have to pay. And then the other residents are from around the state. Is Johnson County making a bigger facility? I have not heard any confirmation on that. I think they're enlarging Eric. What fund is that 500,000 go into? It goes into county general. That's what I was. Okay. So, we do have a request. Um, these are reversed on your schedule, but the first one is for part-time for 32,295 to get him through the end of the year. Is there a motion to approve that request out of county general? I'll make a motion. Thank you, Dean. Is there a second? Second.

Motion a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. And you have request for overtime for 11,8.885. Yes. So, the overtime uh just to get through the rest of the year. Uh requesting an additional $10,000 towards overtime. And you're still short one person? Yes. Well, we're not. He He was hired, but now he has put in his two weeks. So you just first where's he gone? That I don't know. I do not know. I've asked him if he exit interview or

I will. Yeah, I he explained it. He he just had he's got four small small children. His wife just had their fourth child and uh so he works nights because that's the hardest shift to keep filled. You know, you're working 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. So his wife told the wife told him, "I don't want you working nights anymore." So, uh, yeah. And he was he he's great. I mean, he was a youth minister at his church. I mean, it seemed to be good, but again, people's personal lives sometimes. How long did he last? Uh, he was part-time for a couple of months and then went to full-time and he's been full-time for about two months.

Wow. It's too bad. Okay. Is there a motion to approve this uh overtime fund request 11,885 for over fun juven? I'll make that motion. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I I motion. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks, Josh. The next one on our present is prosecutor. So are you doing your best Lind Dudens in? Okay. nominated for best supporting actress in a prosecutor role is

the prosecutor is requesting an additional $1,500 for supply money to get her. It's our fund. I mean, this sheet is completely blank. That's all I got. Okay. Well, I I think that if you don't mind relating to the prosecutor that county council was like CV sheets filled in entirely all categories so we know what we're talking about. I will pass that along.

It is signed. So, we are assuming that the prosecutor is um has a legitimate need for supplies. An explanation would have been helpful. And I don't recall, but was that the one category, one of the categories we squeezed her on during budget time? Could have been. I don't we were trying to find some pennies during budget time. And that might have been an area we squeezed her. Yeah. As we all know that we're go into 26 like $1.5 million shorter than we had in 20. So I move we approve $1,500 supplies. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Motion passes. And superior two. I'm not sure which one she's got on the list first. Well, on the agenda is the 2691. Um, that's coming. She would request some additional fund for her intern from her bail pre-trial fund. Right. So, we're not talking to county general. No. Anyone want to make motion to approve? Thank you, Tim. Is there a second? Go ahead. Thank you. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I didn't hear four yeses. I'm going to ask again. All those in favor signify by saying I. Motion passes. Thank you.

Um, now there's another request for 500 for general supplies. Think her explanation. She just needs some additional supplies to get her to January and they've depleted all of their available funds. Motion to approve $500 from County General. Thank you, T. Is there a second? Second. Second by Dan. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying motion passes. also some additional money at the county's general from county general for public defender.

Um when the judge called today, she said that she's anticipating some large mental health evaluations and several more public defender bills prior to year end. And that is one of those categories where it's even at budget time, it's hard for them to know exactly what the case load's going to be. So anyway, there's a request from Superior Court 2 for 20,000 of county general public defender. It's not used roll back into county general. Is there a motion to approve? We'll move you Mark. Is there a second?

I'll second it. 10. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. Ocean pants this vet. How many hats can you wear one? I know. Um the veteran service officer had one of his handicap vans um that had a major engine issue. Um and he needs $5,000 to cover the repair work. I hear a lot of good things about our service program for He's very frugal, too. I mean, he's moved money as much as he can, but Right. This is a major expense. Thank you, Dan. Is there a second? Second.

Doug. Any discussion? All those in favor of the city by saying I motion passes. Highway. There's sheets in my pocket. Oh, you don't have you don't have sheets, Tim. Did you say you wanted these sheets? No, I'm good. Okay.

Good evening. I'm Tim Gravy. I'm highway superintendent. And a few weeks back, the uh commissioners charged me with the task of um um checking out Goose Run and see what kind of condition it would be in to maybe pave it in the future. Um so I have done that and um it's not cheap. Um we have identified uh we had um Justin Anderson come from Anderson Professional Services. He's the one that does most of our slip designs that we do like Salt Fork. He's the one that's done salt fork bull Kaiser. So um he's probably the best in the industry in this part of the world. Anyway, so him and I spent a couple days out there looking all over, crawling all over it, and uh we identified three different uh potential slide. Well, there's two of them that are very um noticeable and one not so noticeable, but um the total bill for the whole project is uh 1,385,162

of the whole project. All three slips fixing the slides only. That's no pavement, no culverts, no like match deals. No, no, no. No, we don't. There's no NRCS money anymore. It's all dried up through the Doge thing and there's a lot of comp. Is that gone? Uh, we haven't seen any. I got two projects that's been in since the uh the last time we had that uh event. What was that? A couple years ago, two years ago, I don't know. Uh I've had two two projects on Bonell in the in the system and I've not heard anything about it.

So anyway um so there there's one uh that is needs fixed uh in my opinion direly and that would be what I identified as slide one. Um it's a 300 it's like a $400,000 fix is what it is. uh it's 262 feet and we would use soil nails and uh and shot crrete to hold that section up and then once it's we feel that it's uh held up properly then we'll we'll go in and and and pave just that area just that spot. Ben, what was slide one please?

What was the amount you said for that first slide? Slide one is uh around 400,000. Actually, it's 393826, but 400,000 basically. That's the wor. Uh that's the most noticeable one. And it's it's it's Yeah, it needs fixed soon. Are these three slide areas contiguous or houses between them or No, they're not. They're spread out. They're spread out over a couple miles or mile. So, houses between each one. Uh yes, there is. Are they on the hill or on the flat wall? In the middle. Basically from J north.

Basically, we fixed the one lives on the hill. But he skipped that way. But um they're basically from the from uh where where Jent used to run his business out of from that way north is is where they're where one of them is very evident. You can like site one that the uh asphalt's crumbling you know that's wanting to slide. Um that site had actually been fixed some years way way I don't there's no records. on any records. Uh we can't find anything about it, but there is a wall at the bottom. So the bottom the toe is held, but the top's trying to slide over the yet this year,

please. Can that be done yet this year? Uh possibly. We're working on salt fork right now. That was priority yesterday. So is this work that you're going to try to do in house or please? No, this is not. This would be a contract. This will have to be bid then. Yes. Yep. So, I don't I don't think we'll get it done. Short answer is it probably won't happen this year then. No. Short You're right, Mark. It wouldn't happen this year. I guess just for my knowledge, if if the three of there's three slips and there's separation between the two, you can't really tackle more than one at a time, can you? No. Okay.

Every once in a while you can do, you know, depending on how the homes lay and we can do uh two crews at once. We're going to do that on Salt Fork, try to expedite that um so we don't isolate anybody and frostbite. you know, people got to get out and go to work and what have you. It's a complete closure to do a slip like this. Yes. Because the the problem is it's so narrow down there, right, that there's no other I mean, on Salt Fork, for instance, we're working down on the flat and the roads wide enough and the equipment's small enough that we're maintaining traffic somewhat and the school bus, we haven't inconvenience the school bus at all. Here, that'll be a different story. I don't Mike, is there a school bus down there? Please.

Okay. Well, I don't know because I I don't I don't you know I don't live there so I don't know I don't have all the school bus routes.

Um be nice if I did but I don't. Uh we've asked for that in the past and we've yet to get those. Um so anyway, um site three is is the is the um it's the big one and it's it's um it needs steel drove. It's 354 ft. We'll be driving sheeting probably and uh so nails, 20 foot soil nails and probably 20 to 25 foot sheeting to to hold that back. And it's 354 ft long. Do

you have an estimated cost for that? Yeah, it's uh 689,700,000. You said there are three slips. Is there a second slip? Yeah, there is. Uh it is um 140 ft long and it's uh a hybrid wall of steel and nails also. And uh it's it's around 300,000. 300. Yeah. The whole project would be one like basically $1.4 million to do all of it.

Okay. So if this were u approved today, you can't do all the work today. Would that money go into 26 then? Yeah, it can. To be transparent, anything you approve here will directly impact if it if it comes out of riverboat is going to directly impact this budget in 2026. You won't Well, I want you to know this. Um Leah informed me. So we leave like what what's it left? You can help me if you budget until we get more money in,

right? If we pay for this and then the budget and that's it. So if we like if something would happen over the we're getting at it. It's that what if something would happen over the winter coal lane falls off the earth because it could use them and there's a lot of places that are are pretty sketchy. We wouldn't have any uh riverboat money to go after that to fix that quick. So we don't know the whole list of projects that you have on your your scope and well there's a lot of projects I mean you know they they get identified every day. So like you know some we find one seems like well there's a million we know yeah and you have different ways of prioritizing different projects. So this is a

right it's a lot about car count and and you know greater good and all those all those big terms that that people like us use. Um, you know, um, Goose Run has a 41 day car count. That's what's on it on a good day. 41 41 cars. Um, and Todd does that. He's not here. I I don't know exactly when that was. I don't know exactly when that was like was that July or was it I don't know that information so I can't give that to you. I just got the basic numbers all I got. Todd wouldn't Todd would be the one that would have to identify. I just want to give you the whole picture. I'm not saying yes, no, or whatever. I'm just

It's up to you guys. We really make sure you have all the information you need to make decision. I would say if council is of the mind to approve this, I would still do it out of riverboat because if something worse happens in 26 that we have to deal with, then we'll have to figure out different routes. It's not me. To me, it's advertised. Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking at the shake run. Sorry. Right. Next one. Sh. Can you address the worst one? That's what I was going to say because I don't think you you really want to get the other two under contract anyway because you they got to be in Right. I mean, right. Well, the only problem with that is then our next meeting when we can appropriate funds is May.

They're never going to have this done before then anyway. Probably not. I mean, I I we could, but the the realistic answer is Mark's a contractor. No. Right. Um, so here's here's the situation. Like one, whether we approve it or not or we approve it in bits, but knowing that if we approve one tonight, it could pos potentially be done in 25. The next time we're able to appropriate. I doubt if we could do one in 25. I don't think I can get it. We can maybe get it under contract.

We may be able to do that and then that would be fun. It would carry over to we could encumber the money and and we've done that a lot. Encumber the money and we could do it uh the person Maybe, you know, sometime in February or something when the weather starts breaking, we could do What about the engineering on it? That's all of it. That's engine. Yeah, that's that's that's what it is. So, slide one is actually about $400,000. So, yes. So, this is like a design build type of situation. Yes, it is. So, so we advertise, right? We get we approve we get the bids in before the end of the year. We get we get the design approve the design. Right. Right. the and issue a contract prior to the

ABS could probably do the design. I'm, you know, not for certain on that, but they probably would. I'd feel comfortable with them doing it. And then you could wait until March or May of 26 to come back for the other two. I mean, um, is Yeah, I guess. Do we have a meeting in March? Potentially. Can we approve funds in March? Yeah. Okay. So, potentially we could do it in March. Well, we cannot do it in January. We can't we're not allowed to appropriate. I'm just saying if the work's going to get done sometime in February and we could meet again in March.

Yeah. And address the next one, we'll probably be all right for the May meeting, I'm guessing. So is your recommendation to to do the the I would like to I mean I would like to do the site one. Yeah, the site one. I would like to do that. Well, I make a motion we allocate up to $400,000 site one on runation. Have a motion and a second to approve $400,000 out of riverboat for that fund for that project. Mark 4916.

4916 and your second. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in in favor of approving $400,000 for slide one out of riverboat monies for that project signify by saying I. I.

Motion passes. Um, I got one other um deal here. It's Shike Road off of uh Jameson and uh the Bright area. Uh a couple years ago we had some horrendous rain and we had a wash out there and we fixed that in house pretty temporarily and it's been that way and we need to fix it right. Uh and I bring this to your attention because it's a it's a one way in one way out. So if if it would fail, these people would be frothbbit. You know, they couldn't get basic services like fire. It doesn't go to Morgan. No. Okay. No, Shike doesn't. Okay.

Shik's at that end. Shike. Shik's at that end. Well, Jameus out. So, is it Cob that goes all the way? Yeah. Cob goes up, right? But, uh, Shike, if you're going up, Jameson, Shike would be on the left and then, uh, there's one home at the bottom, and then the rest of the homes are up up tucked up in that valley. And, uh, so this would, it's 155,000. And I think Leah said we could take that out of my u uh, restricted fund and, uh, slip repair is is okay. and and that you know they're they're like um somebody said earlier you know that restricted fund is you got to it's harder to use. Yeah. We can't we can't use it to bush hog the road with

right you it has to be some kind of construction type thing. So uh and she said there was enough money left in there to do that with $155,654. Okay. Is there most what is the approach on that repair? Is it you driving nails or you nails? Pins. We're going to pin it and and shotrete or not shotrete, but some shot rock and then some pens. And then it'll be uh shot created tube at the top. You're doing that in house? No. Okay. So, you got to bid that, too. We're going to We're Yeah, we're going to bid it, but I think we can get that done. I I don't know. We might not. I don't know. You might not. What?

Might not be able to get it done. I don't know. We was hoping to get that done before winter set in and and that horrible weather get under contract. We can be on this year's but we'll see what we get done. I mean my anytime it's a dead end road and you're talking about getting isolated and stuck back there that escalates the priority opinion. Right. Tim, is that your motion to approve? I'll make that motion. Yeah. If it's relatively small, it's only 110 ft long. So it's Is there a second? Thank you, Glenn. Any other discussion? All those in favor of approving 155,654 out of 155,000 155 654 out of restricted 1173 fund signify by saying I

motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Well, these both those jobs will be up in the next few weeks. The next thing uh I received an email not from Tim but from Todd asking uh

asking for county council to sign a letter so that he be in a position to get federal grants. So I told him I wasn't comfortable signing the letter without council approval. So there's a a letter that taught you the letter two letters for two uh different federal potential projects. And to me, anytime you can get 8020 fund funding, then it's a no-brainer. So, one is for bridge 218 lower Dillsboro Road over branch of South Ken Creek and that would be for INDOT to do a well federal money, but INDOT to do 80% of the funding and the county to do 20% of the funding. and it says that the county is estimated that we're putting in 1.3 million into that uh transportation infrastructure fund, which we are. In the second letter, it's the same basic premise. And we could do both of these. It's bridge 73 St. Peters Road over East Fort Tanner's Creek. And so I'm asking for a motion from county council to say that I can sign these two letters.

So move second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. Next on our agenda is an ordinance regarding working remotely.

Oh. Uh so this is ordinance 2025-00001. Uh it's an amendment to the 2025 salary ordinance. Uh this is kind of similar to during COVID when employees were allowed to work from home. Um the reason here is different. So during the federal government shutdown, the Dearborn County Soil and Water Conservation District employees, who are county employees but work out of a federally paid building, um were locked out of their office during the shutdown. Um so they were working uh they had their laptops, they didn't have access to the equipment inside, but they did have their laptops. They were working from home. And so just to make sure we're all um straight with state board of accounts and DLGF um the ordinance would authorize that u working from home that they did through yesterday. Today they were back as of today they're back in the office. Um so this would be retroactive to October 1st um and then ended automatically when the federal shutdown ended which uh again was yesterday. They're back in the office today. How many people did this pull?

How many people did it affect? Three. Three employees. And then how like if people called the office, how how did they get ahead of them? On the door. Yeah. Yeah. We had our phone numbered on the door. Anybody came into the office. I'm not one. I knew that. Okay. Is there a motion to approve this ordinance? So move. Second. Is there a second to approve the second?

All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. Everyone needs to sign this ordinance. And Connie, do you have a separate salary ordinance? Updated 2026. Okay.

Well, that's what's next on our agenda. Is there a motion to and this salary ordinance will need to be signed by everyone so please do not move. Is there a motion to approve the salary ordinance with 2025 updates in the 2026 salary ordinance? So be it. Thank you Doug. Is there a second? I'll second.

Dan any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. Motion passes. And again, please sign up before you leave. This is the resolution. The minutes were emailed to everyone by the auditor. Are there any corrections or is there a motion to approve the the minutes?

Motion to approve. Thank you, Mark. Is there a second? Second. Is that Tim? Yes. Have a motion, a second. All those in favor signify. I. All those in favor signify saying I for I. Motion passes. Thank you. Lee. That's what I'm trying to I've never seen before. There's this letter from Nicole that she wants you to endorse her.

Okay. So there is a letter from um it would be from Dro County Council that I would want to request u support before signing. It says to the end Indiana Department of Health on behalf of Denver County Council please accept this later letter of sustaining support for the planning and zoning department's application to the planning grant for bicycle and pedestrian countywide master plan. The project directly addresses the issues that have been discussed during the first part of the county's comprehensive plan update and aligns with our county's commitment to providing our citizens with improvement to economic development, environmental improvements, enhance safety, accessibility, and promote active and healthy lifestyles. We strongly endorse this initiative. We look forward to contributing to its successful implementation and opportunities throughout our community this plan can provide. Should you require any further information, please contact the commission on the south u different county council president. So this would be a request for um council's

tied in with this not as far as this is this has no request for funding. It's just saying that county council all the match she does have all the match. She's got 5,000 from four different entities. She's got Mark Dunovan. She's got OKI. She's got redevelopment and uh tourism. And where's the rent come from? From apply for she has apply for it tomorrow. So I have that. So we're not asking for any money. It's signant. It's it's only to approve a letter of support for this grant. Motion to approve the letter of support.

Thank you, Tim. Is there a second? Becca Dan. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes. Next is um are you going to present for a

um so we had a agenda item on our BCA meeting this um month that two of our five members were going to have to recuse themselves from. So, we tabled that agenda item uh to a special meeting on November 24th at 5:00. Uh the applicant obviously with three members, they can still operate their meeting, but any action would require unanimous 300 vote. And so, the applicant um asked for the special meeting rather than, you know, run the risk of their, you know, request not going through because it's a 2 to1 vote or something like that. So, Indiana code uh 3674907A as well as section 300 subsection 1D of our zoning ordinance. Um those authorize alternate members to be appointed. Um and in this situation, that is what the applicant is asking for that that that each of these members have an alternate member appointed so that there can be a full board at this special meeting on September uh or November 24th. Um I would recommend uh Pete John's. Pete handles planning and zoning matters for the city of Rising Sun, so he is familiar with zoning issues. I I I tried to find Nicole and I were trying to find people that do have some familiarity with zoning stuff so that we weren't just throwing somebody into the fire without really a lot of experience. And again, this appointment is just an alternate member to hear that one item at a special meeting on November 24th. And the the the application is for a front yard setback variance. So it's not anything uh super crazy. Um two members two have to recuse themselves.

Two members have to recuse themselves. Yes. Um the applicant works with Ruthanne and then is uh close personal friends with another member. So is there a motion to approve Pete Johns as the alternate member for BCA? So moved. Second. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you.

We're looking at meeting dates for 2026. Uh Connie had previously emailed those to you. Uh the February meeting was dropped from the original email because that's extremely unlikely. So the dates were previously sent and this is more or lessformational. You don't need a a mo a vote on this, do you? No need. Okay. Is there a motion to approve these 2026 meeting dates? Everybody's good with them. I'll make a motion. Just Is there a second? Second. All those in favor signify by saying I.

Motion passes for our 2026 meeting dates. Additional meetings could be called as needed. Um, that's all that's on the agenda, but we do have this in our our packet on the I don't think any of us are familiar with what this is is a reimburseable county part for huh? Yeah, it's funding fitness grant. I just didn't because she doesn't want it. The park board's going to do it in 2026 or 2027. Okay. said no action needed open.

Okay. Okay. I think we've covered everything on our agenda. Therefore, is there a motion to adjourn? I'd like to address the council. I'm sorry. Certainly. Come up and state your name. We have a minute. Take just a few extra minutes. First, I want to thank Mr. Thatcher for showing up tonight. My name is You say your name.

My name is Michael Meiselle. I live on Goose Run Road in Center Township and I'm I guess I'm the guy that's been making noise about it and I have some of my neighbors and property owners there with me and I've been kind of dealing with this road for 10 years. It's a lot of patches and no really not really any structure repair. I've done a lot of a lot of research and I'm abliving because some of the things have been resolved tonight. It it needs redone. I mean you the county actually has engineering reports from 2017 that indicated that Grus and Road needed to be reconstructed and had one in 20 reconstruct and then it heled itself which I don't understand in 2021 it just needs a 2-in overlay. 2022 it needed a 4inch overlay. 23 4inch overlay and 2024 4inch overlay. There's been no paving done on that road. Been a lot of patches. It was first paved in 1999 and that's the original road bed. It's there now. Um I think I started this in 2015. A lot of verbal conversations with the the highway supervisor. We had a business relationship. So, I'd seen him several times, talked about it, and then I I formerly wrote him an email and a letter in February of this year, March of this year, requesting a plan, a complete plan. Now, I appreciate tonight that we got money approved to do a a slip repair, but the road is trash. I mean, it it's it's back to gravel in a lot of places. Matter of fact, they just paved park right up to our road crossroads and so we are surrounded by all brand new paved roads and it just excluded us. No explanation why I've been asking this question. Um

we need a plan. We like to have a plan as property owners and taxpayers. We feel it needs to be a legitimate plan laid out so we know what to expect. It's been kind of like, you know, go away. I was told in in 10 years ago that the road was in severe deterioration. And that's my words, so they use different words, but it's it's just it's fallen in the creek. I mean, it was so bad when they paved Crossroads Park and Soill when they brought the gravel trucks around to side dress it, they brought I probably I was there on a Friday, I counted 20 trucks going up, four axle dumps full. When you got up on the north side where all these slips are at, it actually rued the road so bad they had to come out and throw pavement and throw patches in it. That mean the roads collapsing under the weight. The bridges are in bad shape. Now, we don't want a brand new highway through there. We want someone to come clean out the ditches and then maintain those ditches so the water quits creating these slips, fix the slips, and pave it from park all the way to Goose Run. Sounds like there's pretty major slips there, huh? I mean, on the road,

the slip that the slip they're concerned about is probably one of the most stable parts of the road. I mean, really, I mean, the road is in terrible shape. I mean, it's it's if you meet an oncoming car now and in the rainy season since there's no drainage, you go off the road, let the other go by, you may wind up stuck. I think I'm no engineer, but I think the slips have to be fixed before road. I I understand. Yes. And here's a and like I said, I I really appreciate the fact that they're going to address a slip,

but we need a plan to address all the slips, reditch it, put in additional cosets if it needs it and repave it. I mean, it's actually I mean, I've lost a tire and a ball joint off it. I don't know if any of my other neighbors have had any damage to their vehicles. That's how bad the road is. Now, Kevin that um Kevin Turner has came out and drove down the road and he is in full agreement that's a pretty terrible road. and he's mentioned that in a commissioner's meeting. I have been to two commissioners meetings. I've written numerous emails and I I brought some folks here that have the same concerns.

Well, thank you for sharing your concerns with us and I think the county intends to be making progress on your problem. One more thing, you have to be this road becomes the only out for people on crossroads, which would be the the southwest side and park on the southern side when it rains in the springtime that floods and this is their only way out. They park down on our properties and then they walk into their property. So, we have to be careful when we repair that slip. If they're going to Someone mentioned closing the complete road, then we would all be stuck in the rainy season. I'm sure they'll work with you. Well, that's where the planning comes in that we're all aware, you know, what the what the complete plan is. We can do that.

And you've been talking to our county highway department and it sounds like he's had an engineer out there. I mean, I know the guy that he's talking about. He's a competent engineer. So, Well, well, I've talked to the county engineer. I've talked to all the commissioners. I've talked to to Mr. Gravy.

Mr. Is it Meiselle? I'm sorry. completely empa have empathy with the situation. We have about 515 miles of paved roads in Dearborn County give or take and like your road right around 20199 when the casino came a lot of roads got paved and a lot of roads got paved quickly and a lot of roads got from that same age deteriorating. We rely on the the county engineer and the highway department to prioritize those roads and come to us and request funding. Okay,

that's exactly what we're trying to do for you tonight is provide funding for those repairs is start the ball rolling in a direction. But we can't we can't we don't have enough of a crystal ball to give you a long-term plan to say each phase of that what's going to happen and what's the priority because like we said there's 500 plus miles of road in Dear County. So we can't

I understand that but the county is paying money of engineering group to come out and evaluate the roads in the county. This road has been indicated several times as needing to be reconstructed and we're talking 2017, we're almost a decade ago that was indicated. Also, I have other county records where this has come up in planning and planning um in development meetings where the concern about traffic for subdivisions being built up on Soap Hill using that road because it's two miles to to the 50 on Goose Run and it's what is it three and a half four miles if you take 148. They keep saying there's only 46 cars a day on that road. They need to come out and do a real count. Amazon goes up and down that road 46 times a day anymore.

I mean, we it's it's when they closed 350 a couple years ago to re to do the redeck, people discovered that as another way to to 50. And that's what happened when I first moved there. 8 10 cars a day on the weekends. Now it's just a continuous. They also put a soccer field in since then. They built additional houses up on Soap Hill. The golf course has been converted into residents. Leler Road, there's quite a few houses went in up there. So there is a lot of traffic on that road. Well,

it sounds to me like the county highway department is making progress as far as taking care of things in this time of year. You can't get too much done in the winter. So apparently the most dire slip is going to be fixed and then the phase two would be I guess slip either two or three and to get that project done so it can be paid. And I I don't mean this to be disparaging, but it took me standing in front of the council twice, the commissioner, excuse me, twice to get to this point for you guys tonight. Why are you Am I going to have to keep doing that? Well, we're the we're the fiscal body. We provide the money. We don't make the decision. Heard that story. We don't print any money. So,

I heard that story. Not the story. It's the truth. Tell me. I know the commissioners are in charge of this road. Not this department here. It doesn't mean as well what I say because I don't have any control over what Roger done. Well, I'm told if they want to get some money, I have to come stand in front of you and plead our case. We are the fiscal body. Yes. And that's why I'm here, sir. Yeah. You didn't have to do that though. He did it for you. So, but I don't think if I didn't go to the cons commissioner meeting that would have never happened. I don't want to continue doing that. Yeah.

I I want I've asked for a plan. And I mean I've asked for several several questions. I've asked how the road dec how that decisions are made. What roads get paved? Who makes that decision? Think there's an asset management plan that they have to follow. But they're not following it. I just explained it to I just read the I have I have requested and received two three six of those plans. I have reviewed them. The county is not following the recommendations. Like I said, they just paved park, crossroads, and soap pill. Now, if our road is acceptable, those three roads they just paved had 10 or 15 years left in them, maybe more. They were not bad roads. I drive them every day, so I know they weren't bad.

And I can't speak to that because I'm not familiar with the criteria, but we do appreciate your issue and the fact that you took the time to be here today with your neighbors. So, hopefully we're making some progress. Thank you very much. Any other comments from the public? If not, I'll ask for a motion to adjurnn. Dennis made the motion which is one of his favor and you made the second. You have a motion and a second to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying all I motion. Uh second was

Mark. 48.

All right, buddy. Hang on. Help. Yeah. You could do a plan today have a slip somewhere on supposed to be done two years ago and then they closed it out long that represents center one