County Council - Regular Meeting

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[Music] Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey.

[Music] [Music] for meeting the county council together. Deiana is going to lead us in the pledge.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, take a look at the minutes. Only thing I seen, I think all of us were here at the last meeting and it says the votes were 50 instead of 60. Okay. On all of them. Yeah, it's two or three different places. Anybody else see anything? Any additions, corrections besides the vote count. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So move.

Ernie makes a motion to approve. Go ahead. Deanna seconds it. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Any oppose? I Okay. Okay. We're going to jump to uh Doie real quick. Doy needs to go. Needs to be the first one up.

Got to get back to work. Um every year I bring an ordinance in to take care of part-time people being paid out of the perpetuation fund. Um you guys have signed it. every year as state board of accounts requires me to do it. Remember, they can be paid out of the perpetuation fund. As long as they're not assisting um the the taxpayers, anybody who walks in once they they start helping them, then you have to approve that that time gets taken out of the perpetuation fund. So, we do it every year and I just need I have my sworn statement and the ordinance. Okay.

Anybody have any questions? I emailed everybody so you could see the sworn statement and you know how much money I have. Um we do this every year so she can pay out of the perpetuation fund. Yes. And the digitizing is almost done for the deeds going back to 1823. So, you know, we only they they'll be here on Monday to do the part that's in microfilm. The deeds are the books are all done. They got done over the weekend. Great. So, we're happy with that. Need a motion. I'll make that motion. I heard it.

Bill makes a motion to approve the ordinance number 25-17. Second. Ashley seconds. Any other questions, concerns? Just curious, how many hours do you think your perpetuation part-time spends helping the average taxpayer coming in the door? Well, that's just it. Um, she right now working two days a week in the office, but um, you know, like Wednesday she's going to be it'll be by herself. So, the deal is, you know, for me to figure that's really hard. It's really hard to do. I was just curious about how many

because what I'm trying to do is even when she's in the office, let her do it so that when she's there by herself, you know, it's just training. Yeah. And there's always something new every day. I mean, sometimes I think the moon does something with what happens in our office, but we're there to help. Did you get all that, Kenny? Yeah. Okay. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay, thank you.

Okay, Sheriff, now you're up. Good morning. Morning. So, we've had a couple unexpected events this year that has caused my sheriff's overtime budget, which is funded through uh public safety, to be depleted. With that being said, to get us through the rest of this year, my detention overtime budget, which is funded through uh special purpose, has a $24,000 surplus at this time. So, I'm going to ask your authorization to pay sheriff overtime from the detention uh budget line. get me through the rest of the year. Is the detention budget line coming out of special purpose?

Detention is coming out of uh yeah special purpose. Can they do I know I have to check and see if that can be done. I'm not sure it can be sheriff. Okay. That special purpose is set up for payment, maintenance, and operations of the jail. Right. Yeah. So, I'm not sure that I have to check and see if that can be moved. I'm not real sure it can. Am I right down there, Christie? You are. You are. I didn't think about that when I when we were talking about it. Um, I mean, it would be logical, but we'd have to check state board of accounts. I don't I'm not sure we can. Okay. I mean, I may need to ask for an additional then at some point if that's the case.

Pardon? Additional. May ask for an additional to get me through the rest of the year. Yeah, because I I think we need to check and make sure because I'm there's some guidelines on that special purpose. It's not I'll get with Christie then and we'll we'll go from there. Then we have canceled some training. So, it's just going to alleviate some of that. Uh I'm going to guess 10,000. Sure. No place in your no place left over in your budget. Uh not that much. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I I'll get with Christine. We'll see if we figure this out. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Durban.

Well, good morning everybody. Morning.

Uh, I had emailed everybody the um my uh rat plan. I'm going to call it my rat plan there. Um, so one of the things that I actually had put in that email that I was going to ask for an additional for that, um, actually, uh, in reviewing the state law, that actually has to come from county general. And whenever there's a uh rat a communitywide rat problem, um that becomes a requirement for the health department to eradicate and eliminate, but unfortunately the county has to pay for that out of their funding. So, um so I'm not going to ask for that at this point. I'll talk to the commissioners on how they want to address that. Um and I guess ask them for the funding first. So, I just wanted to make you up tod date, however, that we do have a communitywide rat problem. Um, I hope you had a chance to look at that email. It's it's large. Um,

what do you mean communitywide, not just Clarksburg? It's

No, no, no. Clarksburg as the community. Correct. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's just Clarksburg. We've got uh we are going to have to look at um probably 30 different homes there that we're going to have to do some some trapping, poisoning, that kind of thing. The one thing that um I'm really proud proud of Alisia here, she because this was going to be 8 to10,000 uh additional expense to hire a company to come and do these things. um she's agreed to go on Thursday to take her test to get her what's called a 7A pesticide license. So she'll be able to do that. So se that saves the county 8 to10,000. So the trustee help you at all?

I know that's awesome.

So the trustes role in this is typically education uh whenever there's a a rat problem like that. So basically what they're supposed to do is get educational materials both to the community and to the schools is what it says in the ordinance which is kind of weird. Um so uh we've already gotten some educational stuff out. U so we're kind of taking care of that part of it. U so no as far as reaching out to the trustee for money um that's not actually part of the code. And then in addition to that, I put our county health plan uh in front of everybody. Um it's just a document that tells what we're going to be doing for the next two years. Uh I know that uh you know, you're probably need some reading material when you're going to bed at night. So, this one will keep you awake though because it's that fascinating. But anyway, uh that's not for anything other than just someformational purposes. That uh was approved by the commissioners. That is our official county health plan. So that's I give it to you so you know where the money's going. That's you know that that's where we're going to be spending the money. I think as you look through it you'll see that most of the initiatives are my goal was to make them low or no cost so that we're not actually spending any extra money. We're relying on a lot of partnerships and uh initiatives we already have developed. So all right now I'll bring up what I actually was here for.

We leave that rat. Yes, sir. The pictures looked like there was just major cleanup that need to go on. That's correct. Yes.

Not yet. I we This just happened last week. Yeah. Correct. That is So, we use what's called integrated pest management for any kind of a a pest type of situation. So in this case that means we need to eliminate their food sources. We need to eliminate the their um habitat and then we will follow up. Then it all has to happen kind of at the same time. Then we'll do the eradication where we we poison trap and and get rid of them in that way. Um or like Danny said, we get a 22 and go take care of them. So um

and you have to work with Doug on Doug will be you'll be part of that one. Doug will be part of this. Um, we've got um what I would call, and of course we haven't met on this in our committee with Doug, but I would call three properties. They're blighted. Um, again, unfortunately, the ordinance is a little unclear on who ends up paying for that. So that's that's that's where I you know we want to get the homeowners but I think planning Ryan don't they have a blinded properties program

right we had our second These properties. Just remember top of your boots. That's key.

Hey Sean. Yes. So, do you have any rough idea of what you're looking at dollar-wise the countyy's going to have to pay? And then my second part of that is reading through all those codes you said looks like those costs will go onto the tax role of the property. Am I right on that?

So, in an individual rat problem, the uh the expenses do go to the homeowner and on the tax ro. However, once it becomes a communitywide uh issue, then the expenses are uh the the county has to to pay for that to an extent. Now, that does not mean we can't go especially like on the uh the the the blighted properties and and the cleanup for those. Uh we we can certainly treat those just as we are with the other blighted properties in the county. Um and and put that on the tax roll. Yeah. And any kind of idea on numbers

as far as dollars? I think it's like500 total. 4,500 total. Yeah. 40 4,500 um total. And that's that's not counting uh cleanup or anything like that. That's assuming the property owners are taking care of the cleanup. I got you. Okay. And we can compel them to do that with the existing code. So

I like to target practice end of it myself. Liability there. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions on that? Now, how was it determined that 30 homes were impacted? Yeah. So, um also on that email, if you look, there were um there was a map uh where we actually found either signs of rats or actually rats. Um and by signs, we looked at uh burrows. We looked at uh scat. We looked at um urine trails. We we actually took infrared and we were able to see the urine trails. Um trying to think what other signs. Um open that one up.

So one of the things about rats is everywhere they go they drag urine. That's why this is such a public health problem. If you look at at the number of diseases that are caused by rats. It there's like 25 different diseases that they can cause. So uh we get really concerned. We did have a child bit. Um, and then we had another woman who woke up with a rat on her bed with the pack and play right next to her. So, this is a pretty serious public health issue. I I don't want to make light of that. Um, we need to address it. We need to address it quickly. Um, as far as how many and how we determined that, every place that was an X on that map was where we found signs of rats. There were a couple places that would fall under this blighted property that created nice habitats for rats. We didn't necessarily see signs there, but it doesn't mean they're not there. So, as we look at the spread there, it's affecting the entire community. I uh quite possibly on that uh what would be the east side there like towards the fire station. Um I haven't had any calls from that side and it may be fine. However, we need to treat this as if every single home has a problem. So,

they do. They do. As soon as we get rid of a habitat, they're going to go looking for another. So, it that's why when it's a community issue, it has to be done all at once. There's no, hey, we'll go take care of this house because they just moved to them. Are they all wild rats? They are. They're Norway rats. Um they're the most common rat we have in Indiana. I'd heard a rumor somebody turned loose a bunch of tame rats. Well, they won't be tamed very long. No, these aren't tame rats. No, I if you look in the pictures there, they're Yeah, very pretty easily identifiable as the Norway rat.

So, our next step, we'll be having a meeting with the community up there to address what we're where we're going with this. So, that'll be our very next step. and then we we'll start the eradication process almost immediately. I'm not waiting for funding. Uh we'll figure out a way to pay for it. I mean, that's that's the bottom line is I got to do this. Uh and I'm I can't wait for even the next commissioner's meeting. So, we'll start we'll start moving. Probably won't be spending a lot of money yet, but we'll start moving on. So, all right. So, what I'm actually here now that I've stood here and up all of my time. Um, so I messed up, guys. Um, I know shocking that I could make a mistake, but I most certainly did. So, um, uh, Ally Myers is one of our environmental health specialists. In 2023, uh, we approved the 2024 budget. uh the it was actually on the HFI to hire her at uh $42,900. Um she ended up getting hired at a much lower rate of 40,436. Um I missed it. I'll be real honest with you. I totally missed it. Um when I first saw it, I thought, well, that's uh because she came on in April, so that was it was a lesser amount. However, that's not what happened in in researching this. So, now she's been paid since April of 2024 and then through this entire year at a rate lower than what was actually approved as her salary. So, this year, um, I actually moved her off of the HFI and onto the 1159 health account. and the approved um rate of pay on our budget was 41,650.

And if we take the 42,900 and give her the 3% raise from last year and the 3% raise for this year, that would actually take that salary to $45,51261. Uh if I look at surrounding counties, uh Ripley pays the same position, 47,644. Rush is actually she lives in Rush County. So, they had a vacancy. Uh they paid 50,733 and I don't want them stealing my people with all the training that I've given her and all the expenses I've paid to to get her where she is. Uh Jennings at 47231. Shelby, I know they're larger, but as a county close to us, 51,488. And then Brown County comes out uh as the county closest in our population at their 47 956. So, we're still about 2,000 under the average for most counties. Um, I have written this down somewhere. I just have to find it. Also, when I looked at the uh salary study information, uh that was the u the amount that was being paid at that time when that salary study came out. So, I have uh actually sitting on a cash amount of $790,000 and 77 790 724 um in my 1159 account. So, what I'd like to do is go ahead and increase uh her pay to the correct amount and kind of make her whole from the past two years u out of just my regular 1159 budget, which I

I should be just fine on paying for that. That come out of your grant money? No, sir. Well, I'm asking for it to come out of the regular county budget. County budget. Yeah. If if we can't do that, then I'd like permission to take it out of one of my grants, but um I feel like we're financially strong. Uh we're still taking in sufficient funds on our fees and that that we can afford to do this. It's a it's an additional 2,00 3,400 and some odd dollars. 2,542. Correct. Right. That would be that is to make

that is to make it right. That by paying her that salary that takes care of the salary that she wouldn't have gotten. And that's for 2025 budget for 2026. 20 2026. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Any questions, concerns? You guys do

she always does. She nags me. [Music]

Motion. I moved. Justice. 2026. Got a motion from Rick. Diana seconds. Any other questions? Discussion. Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? I Okay. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. Mr. Snider.

Good morning. Morning.

So, I have a few things to go over with you guys today. Uh, first off would be the deputy director's uh salary. Currently, the budgeted salary is 31,200 for him. However, that comes out at his typical amount of hours is 60 hours per pay period. Comes out to $20 an hour. Gary is only getting $18 an hour. So, I would like to get that rectified to where he can actually make what is allotted for him to make. Since it is already the budgeted amount, it wouldn't incur any additional costs. everything. He does not as a part-time employee does not get any additional benefits. So, it wouldn't affect any of the anything else that's already in the budget there. This would just be to rectify his situation. Also, looking ahead for next year, uh looks like his salary reflected a 3% increase, which if my math is correct, should have him at $2060 per hour. And again, he's only at 18 per hour now. So even at where he sits currently, there's no way that he can actually get what's allotted to him. So I would like to see if we could rectify that please. Um if the council would see that. uh you know he has served prior to my arrival as the interimm director and done a very good job of keeping things going and doing a good job with that and is certainly qualified for it.

So you're wanting to raise it from 18 to 20 because that's already what it's budgeted for. Right. Correct. No when the money's gone then that's gone. You understand that? Right. Right. So if some emergency comes and he ends up working 80 hours, then you'll have to cut back somewhere else. Correct. Yep. Okay. I'll make a motion allowing take him up to 20. Bill makes a motion to move him up to 20. Ernie seconds it. Any other discussion? And now

we're talking we're talking 2026, right? uh currently for 2025 and then also to move that to 2026 as well. So your 25 budget has enough money in there should be $20 an hour on your 25 budget also, right? Correct. Yeah. Okay, I'll second that motion. Okay, either one. Any other questions, concerns? So the 2026 budget needs to reflect $20.60. Is that true? That would be what's budgeted in there currently. Yeah. That's already accounted for. In other words, yes.

Yeah. Okay. All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay. Anything else? I have a yes. Two grants. Uh if we could start out first with the uh state homeland security program grant. Okay.

I will apologize right off the bat. I was not familiar with this process and I have actually already applied for this grant not realizing I should have been here first before that. Um that one was applied for which would be 100% reimbursement to the county uh in the amount of $112,16646. And those monies are to go toward upgrading our command bus which is rather antiquated and severely outdated on the technology that is in there. Um there are many pretty much any type of computerized thing even down to the radios in there. The radios will within the next few years be obsolete in the sense that the state will move to a different type of uh frequency division and what they state calls phase two of P25 and within the next few years that'll take place all those radios are phase one. So biggest portion of that is probably radio technology and then when we look at the equipment and the computers it's it needs a lot of work. So at the present time that amount should upgrade that to bringing it up to speed and also in working with Josh and speaking with Josh that technology should stay relevant for at least five years I would think

this for your command center uh the command bus. Command bus. Now if you upgrade this will all move. Okay. If you get a trailer or you go to something Yes. I mean a better piece of equipment and right that was also part of the best. Yeah, it'll move. Okay. And yes, that was also part of our planning in this that if we went to another motorized vehicle or we did go to a trailer, whatever we go to, this stuff would be also able to go to that as well. Okay. And it's easily moved.

Yeah. Okay. Well, any questions on the on the grant for $112,16646? Commissioners have approved it. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So move. Rick makes motion. I'll second. Ashley seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I.

Any oppose? pass it down to Christie. Okay.

All right. Our second grant here is the what we call the EMPG, Emergency Management Performance Grant. This is one that's done every year where the State and Federal Homeland Security will reimburse a portion of our salaries. That portion is based upon one the salary and two also population of your county involved by a tier system. Decar county qualifies for uh $30,000 reimbursement. And that one I have not filed yet. I did get that one correct this time. Um that one is due by the end of this month. So I am in the process of assembling everything that I need for that and it doesn't cost the county anything. It's a 30,000 reimbursement to us.

Okay. Any questions on that one? Entertain a motion to approve. I'll make the motion to approve. The makes a motion to approve. I'll second it. Bill seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Do you have any other questions for me? Pardon, sir? Any other questions for me? No, I think you're doing a great job. What's going on out there with your building? Aren't you putting a building up? Yes. And that is a uh because of phoning or something's

Well, no. It's So, it's been the plans have been sent off for approval. And one of the holdups is my assumption and Gary could speak to it a little bit better because he started the project before I was here. But my understanding is the holdup has been the state because the state sent back I think it was 11 uh issues. The city sent back 11 is state. As far as getting luckily still Whenever I get an email on it.

And to clarify, this building was just intended to be a storage, right? No trouble from the city. The city had it sounds like they tried to make the city don't approve their answer.

Okay, that's where it's at. No problem. Sorry I brought that up. That's that's I was wondering too because the tiff board, you know, I know we're we're approved everything been we went through this with Adams Township Fire Department, too. So, it's no problem. I email Mike and I send an email at least once every two weeks. I have been once a week. What have you heard? What's going on? usually back. Thank you, sir. Okay, Chris Nobblet.

Morning everybody. Morning. All right, so I am here um just asked based off of my 2026 budget. Um, due to my start date in early July, I was not given the 3% raise. Um, but with that being said, I do have employees that report to me that would be making more than me. Um, so I was just requesting if I get that 3% raise that would, you know, push me above um the employees that do report to me. question. I have I understand where he's coming.

I do too. I mean, I totally I do. Should be the I have a lot of people that report to me that make more than I do. Especially when you're in a sales. Oh, yeah. How many we have didn't get to only like two or three. Yeah. Yeah. Like didn't um I didn't even know. Oh, okay.

I have two. Remember I asked you. I said when it We signed an ordinance on it, didn't we? We did. We had an ordinance we we put in on and and it was brought set down to us from uh Wagner's Healey or whatever that is. Yeah. I wasn't

everybody's thoughts on this and I don't know what I don't know about it. Do we need to put something together to state that when you were hired were hired at tax Assuming that if you start April of 2026, you're going to get hired at whatever this salary is supposed to. Where are we coming up with these? We didn't get to 3%. July. I don't if you was hired after July.

If you're hired July one or after, you're not eligible for the raise following year, but you are. 6 months. Rick, you were familiar with the when somebody was hired, they were at 4% and then the next year 2%. So, they did away with that and changed it to to this. And I

And this has happened to me before that accept a role at a at a at a rate and you there's no chain tied to you to say you had to do it. So just do your job well and things will happen in the future. There's there's that we wouldn't have guaranteed a percentage raise anyway because that hadn't been decided. So

I think you also got to look at it responsible for these people. I kind of agree with that on on parks. let people answer to you but seven 10 seven but

my experience has been that if I have employees that work for me they're good enough to earn more than me I am tickled to death so I mean I don't I'm not saying that it's $10,000 difference but to your point they're adding adding value and it makes your life easier, Chris, because you don't have to worry about following them every day and making sure they do what they're supposed to do. It may not reflect in your bank account. That's where it's all coming down to,

but but it does reflect on your ability to do your job and do well. Well, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, you got to realize myself. He still carries the responsibility. So, I mean, I' I've never been a fan of somebody's in the supervisor's position to make less money than the people he's supervising because he's responsible for them. They're not responsible for what at the end of the day he is. So,

but I think we're talking about two separate things. We're talking about the 3% after July 1 and we're talking about if his pay was set correctly because if we approve it on the premise of the July one hire date and making an exception, are we going to make another exception? Are we going to make an exception for everyone hired after July 1? Like we need to make those two things very clear.

I think I think this might be a go ahead. This might be a flaw in flaw in our our we we did that with an understanding that we had to have some kind of a basis to do the raise on, but we never really didn't think about the position itself, whether it was somebody in leadership or just somebody that's on, you know, an employee. There's a big difference in those positions. Um, which we never really had discussion about that when we set that policy that I'm aware of so we either maybe need to go back and revisit that and correct that issue so we could down the road we would have that ability at a not have this situation again but um you know there is a difference in the position. there's a difference in you got a leader and then you got the employees and there's there is a difference in that. So I fully understand where Chris is coming from. I don't know how to at this moment how to correct that without you know going back to everybody else that we did the July one on and because right now that doesn't say anything about you know what that position responsibilities are on an exception. So based on this spreadsheet, he's going to make $460 more than you. That's

I mean, here's here's my thing. I mean, Rob does do a lot for us and he brings in a lot of money, but I just and I don't think I mean, there's no issues like Rob does great reporting to me and that, you know, he does report to me. Now, if it was a situation in the past where Rob did as I say he reported directly to the board, um it'd probably be a little different. Um but in my opinion, like I said, I I'm ultimately responsible for Rob and what he does. Um and so that's just that's where I'm coming from. And even though it is $460, I mean, it's still, you know, it's an idea. It's not

it's Yeah. for me. [Music]

I started July 2nd. I move we make the exception to go ahead. Second makes a motion to pay Chris a 3% bill seconds it any more cons discussion.

Okay, we will have a we'll have a hand vote on it. That's okay. Before you vote, before you vote, is there a better way to address $460 and and and fix this in future negotiations, I guess, as far as salary goes. I mean, that's kind of where we're at, right? We're opening a door for other things that we don't want over $460.

Yeah, but we're within two days. I mean, okay. I don't I don't know all the November. Yeah, I agree. But you're you're right on the borderline holiday weekend probably. Like I said, if he could have got off his other job and started the last day of June, there'd be no problem. But I feel like it's close enough that we can we can make the exception and I have to commit to everything else.

Can I say I think you take the whole timing situation out of it and just say it was a one-time overlook. You didn't notice. You didn't catch that his salary was going to be less than employees. Take the whole 3%, you know, July one out of it. out of the equation and just say that it was an oversight and going back to fix the issue. So every time we have an employee that leapfrogs a manager, we're going to make an adjustment. We shouldn't let that happen. Well, if an employee has 20 years experience and they've gotten raises and a supervisor hires in at a salary that they agreed to in the hiring process, then

Yeah. But how's that? I don't like a take for instance the highway superintendent the guy working under him should never I don't care if he's been there 100 years he should never make more than the superintendent then we should have done a better job in setting the salary that they were hired in at you know I had nothing to do with that I mean I I think in certain happens a lot. It might not very often. I mean, you wouldn't in a business. You go any kind of a factory or anything. You couldn't pay more.

Any more discussion? Got a motion and a second on the floor. got a got a sheet down there. Okay. Yes. Go right ahead. Okay. Um Kenny, yes. Bernie, yes. Deanna, no. Bill, yes. Rick, no. Ashley.

No. So, three yeses and three nos. That goes to Danny. It is coming down to this. I'm sorry, but I have to go with Ashley on this. I have to go with No, I'm on the salary committee. So our our our plan should then be that we make sure we address some things in the future to make it right. Yep. Because I I I think it opens up can of worms. Yeah. I really do. I mean, we got Michael sitting back here.

Certainly. And we've got some other people. I think we just need to look at some things differently down the road. Try to make it up to you. All right. Well, you guys want me to go over the interest ordinance with you now or come back up? What, sir? The interest ordinance?

Yeah, interest ordinance. If you want to. I think I've got it laying here. Uh, yep. Right here we have we split the interest up before for county general addit special purpose kumcap local roads and streets highway and he wants to add parks and wreck to that where the parks department gets the interest instead of county general getting it I believe. Yeah.

Yeah. Parks just hasn't been getting interest on our cast. I think it's in a it's in a different fund.

I don't see a problem with it. I mean, we did it before. I mean, they got money. They might as well get their interest out of it is the way I see it. Yeah. So, we got an ordinance reestablishing putting the parks and wreck in the uh drawn interest on their money. It' be ordinance number 20 2025 18 18. What's it amount to a year, Chris? Would you estimate? I'm not sure. Honestly, I mean, we've got a cash balance right now in our general fund of just a little over 300,000 right now. Yeah, we've done that with one, two, three, four, five. I'm not I'm not sure what the

six other go what the interest rate is. I whatever the the treasur takes care of treasur takes care whatever the interest rate is and and she puts a different fund sometimes and makes a little bit more here a little bit more there is what she does. So I entertain a motion to approve ordinance 2025-18. So move second. Rick makes motion Diana seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I. Any oppose?

I. Before we get to the budget adoption, there was one more salary question from tourism that we should probably address. Okay. Before we let Chris go, just quick question. I was out working with the spread day and e- recycle day this weekend and big tournament out there this weekend. You guys have conversations with the bowling alley to get approval to allow parking on their lot. We're going to Yeah, this weekend um was huge. It was huge. Yeah, it was. Yeah.

So, yes, we are going to talk with them and obviously it's going to be a toss up because we don't want to, you know, inconvenience their customers, but also, you know, Yeah, maybe something. I don't I think Rob already has cuz I during the regular games out there when it ain't tournament time I said something to him and he said he's talked to Shmer and make sure it's all right to park in the back back here anyway. Yeah. Well, they were all parked in the front. It was it was it was nowhere else to park. We got to get some parking. Has there been discussions about about any kind of a shuttle

type of thing that you could let them park over in the grass area where louvers put all their campers at during the fair or that space and actually run back and forth so to the ball diamond. So we do have right now um not where lures at but up you know I mean even in where the pool lots at when you put when you start like that's a that's a ways. We do have now um one of our side by sides. I mean it is all insured by everything and we do have you know folks running back and forth and you know side by side getting people there and back now currently.

So I was kind of think like the trailer they used of the past kind of thing that yeah and those guys probably come out there and run it on a weekend. Well they could it could be hooked up to a truck or anything. No big deal. They could be hooked up to a truck and they're all sitting there. I don't know. They wouldn't say word if you used them properly. I just thought of that when I was out there thinking hopefully they have done. That's actually what we're doing. The power of the past guys this weekend for our trick-or- treat event. They're that's where the parking's at and they're going to be running for about three hours just running a shuttle this weekend. Well, it sure is full. Yes, it is. Thanks for your report.

And they were playing in the rain Sunday. The lights were on and kept going. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Morning. Uh I sent an email earlier. I know a couple of my board members as well asked um about increasing my pay to 5 thou 58,525.63. 63 um just to um keep things you know more equal um that sort of thing. Um I know both Ryan Maddox, Daniel Fya are very emphatic. They wanted me to come um talk to you guys today about it. Um just increasing it just a little bit. Currently um it's set at 56,198 for 2026. It's set at what currently or uh what do you set at? 56,198.

You want to go to what? Uh 58,525.

And that was to align with the parks and recck director assuming the director got the 3% raise, which we just voted down. So now they're pretty comparable at 56198 and 56821 just one. Yeah. [Music] questions, concerns. I mean, if the board's concern is alignment, they're pretty well aligned currently.

Do what? If the board's concern is alignment with parks and wreck, they're pretty well aligned at this point. That just said Yeah, that's what I I'm sorry. I didn't really hear what you're asking for.

Can you hear in this microphone? Um, I'm asking I asked for a raise.

Deadline. No, no. Um the tourism board was wanting her pay to be better aligned with the um parks and recck director and they were making that ask assuming that the parks and recck director was going to get the 3% raise. Because he is not, they're projected salaries for 2026 are within $600 of each other. So, it's pretty well aligned. Well, first of all, it has those two departments don't have anything to do with each other.

We we do work closely together, but yeah, and I'm on the parks board. I I'm on the Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I'm I I'm on the parks board um hiring committee. Um, and it is something I mean technically with inkeepers tax since it isn't the other tax technically the budget that is set due to Indiana code says that what um the board asked on these types of things are supposed to go through. But I know that's a technicality. I know it's been brought up in the past. So,

well, I understand that you guys work together and that's we're happy that that you do that, but every office in the courthouse works with each other. But our from the courthouse perspective and from the county council perspective, we did the salary ordinance so we could keep the offices separate and and put into those offices what those offices do. Um, and we, you know, aligning with the parks department doesn't really make any sense to me because you're not part of the parks department and they're not part of tourism even though you work together. Okay, I I understand.

Was there a reason was Let me So was there a reason why that that wasn't presented when we did our budget? Uh it was the amount that we requested in the budget when I I came to ask for the budget approval. Correct. Her request was 59,000. Yes, correct. I'm sitting there looking at it right now. And we gave her another And we gave her another full-time employee. Correct. And I I do understand all that. So, it's something my board asked me to come advocate for and I'm here. So, I think we're in line with a salary study with 561 right now.

It's okay. I understand. I just it's something I've been asked to come and do. So, don't shoot the messenger, right? Yeah. Right. We're not going to shoot. All good. I appreciate that. So, okay. Okay. All good. Thank you. Okay. Do you need line? You need line item added to your budget. Correct. Yes. I think put it for

Yeah. So, uh, the veterans office was able to secure, uh, a van for transportation. Um, so we got it, uh, the dealership gave us a big discount off of it and the foundation, uh, covered the rest of, uh, us getting a van to be able to transport veterans to, uh, medical appointments through the VA, whether it's Shelbyville, Indianapolis, Camp Adterbury, Cincinnati, wherever that might go. And so we were asking for an additional I think it was 3500 to cover fuel and maintenance costs um for the year. Um we believe that we would probably do two transportations a week. We're just trying to average out what we think it would be and just to cover enough for the gas volunteers to drive that.

So what I'm also in the process of doing is coming up with a volunteer list. Um, I'm I'm reaching out to a couple other VSOs that have vehicles because I want to get policies in place on use uh processes and also how to vet volunteers uh to ensure that we're not getting somebody who, you know, drives and gets infractions like crazy um in order to take care of our van. Um, so that's a that's an improcess piece. Um, I took a check over to the car dealership yesterday, so we'll probably have it here by the end of the month. Um my goal is probably not to use it until after the first of the year just to make sure everything is in place uh before we actually start transporting our veterans uh to the hospital for where they need to go.

With with that said, um I think it's great that I think the eligible Briggs Foundation fund paid that and that's right in that wheelhouse for veterans. if you're not going to start till after the first of the year was always the issue back in the old days that you just could not find drivers consistently to transport back to four. So would it be better rather than to add that to the budget going forward to work it as an additional if you need money once you find out that you got drivers transport bike you want and all that kind of stuff. I have some folks who have already said if I needed a driver, they would drive. So, I'm not worried of getting people. Um, the next step is is that I really want to look at and in and talking with Tammy is how can I fund so that I don't have to get volunteers that I can actually have some guys that I can throw 25 $50 for a trip to go and take our veterans where they need to go. I think it's important. And I'm going to reach out to the American Legion and try to find to where my volunteers are other vets because I think that would be critical or not critical but an opportunity for other vets to help serve other vets at the same time. Um so really the big thing for the delay really is just I want to make sure I have a solid group set up and ready to go so when we do start this I get somebody who needs something and I'm calling around and trying to find somebody. Um, I I don't mind driving if I have to, but I don't think that's my role uh for the county. My my role should be getting people to take care of that and and to make sure that my office continues to support our veterans. Can you explain why? I thought that was interesting what you told me about why the difference between the past not being able to get drivers and now the difference in the

Yeah. So, I think the P for that it's probably not too bad, but uh the service that you had prior to this van is was called the DAV's van. So that van strictly could only go from the VA or the veteran's office to wherever the VA the the veteran had to go for his appointment and back to that location. With the county vehicle, if I'm coming back with that veteran and he needs a prescription, I can swing by and get his prescription for him. We could not do that with a DAV van. Uh there was very closed restrictions for that van. Um so this would open it up. We and they also don't have I don't think we would have the restrictions that the DAV mandated on the drivers for that van. Uh they had some very very hard uh requirements from what uh uh I understood. Um so this would open up a little bit easier for us. Um but at the same time I want to make sure we're getting the right volunteers to be able to do this correctly. Um the last thing I want to do is just throw it out there and then next thing you know we're sort of bogged down trying to do something. Um, if I can get volunteers, a hefty group of volunteers before the first of the year, we'll kick it off and start it as as soon as I can. I have vets call me all the time looking for rides or needing rides. So, I think it's going to be a great thing for our county. I just got to want I want to do it right. I don't want to half half bake this thing.

But, this may include liability insurance that you're gonna have to carry. Is that uh there will be uh my understanding is that that's coming through I think I'm getting it registered through the county, I believe. Um, it'll be with the fleet county insurance because it belongs to the county. Yep. It's getting it's getting uh registered through the the commissioner. So, they'll have the title of the vehicle. I'm all for if there's anything we can do to help our vet. I agree. And it was just 2,500. It was 2,500. Okay. Is that reflected? And it's already reflected in the budget. Yeah. Reflected in this. It takes his total up to 58,248 for the veterans.

Does what now? the veterans budget. It's not going to be on there. It's part of the county general, but just his budget is 58,248. Okay. But it is already reflected in the county. Is it in the county general here on this? Okay. Okay. I of course you know get fuel down at the Yep. They were going to work on getting me a card and everything once I get So, um, what I owe, uh, Christy and Patty is the information on the vehicle once I get all that so they can get the the registration and what we need to do to get plated and stuff like that.

Ernie makes a motion to approve the $2,500 request. Billy seconds. Any other discussion, questions? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? I Okay, last question I had, Danny. We had talked before. Um I saw the budget for the veterans office and it only had a single line for uh the veteran service officer. Um I I proposed two budgets. I just didn't know I just asked for clarification to make sure which one which we were going so I know how to plan from my following year if it was going full-time or if I was going to get this.

Yeah, we need to talk about that. We we put 35,000 in his budget at fulltime. He said he was good with that. I'm good with it if if everybody else is good with it. That was just a question he had and I I called and talked to him and he said 35,000 was appropriate if that's okay with everybody. So, your budget's the way it is. Thank you, sir. Okay, we're down to Well, let's get this one first.

Yeah, I got done and associates. Let's do that. That'll be the last one besides budget approval. Uh, we have to approve. Done. Keeps excess money from the insurance. I'm not sure what they're sitting on, but they usually set on a halfway decent chunk of change. They want to invest it for us, draw some interest, and they can. And we just have to approve account resolution to where they've got permission to invest money and draw interest on it instead of just setting an account by itself.

That's money that you fund to them. So they checks to providers, correct? Correct. Correct. We send a monthly amount to them and it sits in a bank account with our name on it. Only our name on it there. So it all stays in Decar County's They said they could control. Yeah. They said they could invest it. It it'll still be fluid. They can still get a hold of it, but it'll draw interest and instead of just sitting in that account, not doing anything. So just over do what? Yeah. Just over. Yeah. Yeah. But is it going to be an investment where there's a chance of loss in it or will it be

No, it'll be it'll be a it'll be an interesting Yeah, it'll be an interesting period. No, it won't be in a They're not going to go buy mutual funds or nothing like that with it. Uh Bitcoin. No, they're not going to go buy Bitcoin or something like that. It'll be just interest bearing. So this should be I we have just it's okay to say the amount that we have because I roughly we usually sit on about 1.6 million is what we're what we'll be I would imagine invest approximately one to should have there's a lot of time they've been we asked them to do it quite a while ago.

Yes. Just to clarify that's an account that we have 1 6 million because we pay for medical expenses for our employees. That's right. Which can be and it's been so we could absolutely we could have one bad month and it Yeah. half of that. But the good thing about it is it's been good lately and a lot of times the fourth quarter hadn't even been sent into them. Right. We've been sitting on enough that we don't fourth quarter is not being sent. We've the things been Did you get all that, Kenny? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So, it's interesting account, but it's fluid. So, they're not

We won't lose any of our principal is what you're saying, right? No, it's not. They're not going to go out buy stocks and bonds with it or nothing. They're going to just be in an interesting account. Okay. In interest drawing accounts what it'll be in. So, just makes money while it's sitting there. When interest goes into county general, no, it'll probably go right back in that account. It'll probably stay in it'll go right back into the stay in the insurance account. Okay. Yeah, we track the interest. We do. We get monthly. We get a monthly bank statement from them and we we track all of that. I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion we approve that. Kenny makes a motion to approve. You second it, Bill? Yeah.

Bill seconds a motion. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay, you got to figure out. You have to show me where to sign this. Chris, there's about 14. What was it? By I send that down to her. She can fill the title. Anything else out? She can put a title on me. Okay, budget adoption. Everybody has a copy.

So, the health departments is changing. My office is working on it right now to bring down a new form to sign. Pardon? Um, from where we changed the health department's salary, it is coming. She's fixing it right now and we'll bring down a new form. Okay. We'll approve. Any other changes? Now we got soil and water to approve or uh solid waste to approve.

See solid waste [Music] approved solid waste. Uh they're adopted budgets. Everybody got a copy of that solid waste? No. Okay. Their adopted budget $774,150. Their adopted tax levy is $461,309. I They're probably sitting on, you got plenty of cash in there, Kenny.

Yeah, there's probably about a million and a half dollars in cash invested right now. Okay. So, your adopted tax rates 00247. We get they got the tax rate plus we also get the tipping fees from the landfill too. That's not I don't know if it shows it on there. No, it just has a just has a tax levy on it. Okay. Okay. Okay. I entertain a motion to approve the solid waste. Motion. Diana makes a motion to approve solid waste.

I'll second. Ashley seconds. Any other questions for Kenny? He's in charge of this one. No. All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay. Okay, we got a new one. There's a new one.

Brand spanking new. Okay. So while everybody's signing that, I'll go over ordinance of resol resolution for appropriation of tax rates and what the adopted budget is. Hear me? All right. Yeah.

Okay. Casino and riverboat adopted budget 80,000. County General 12,231,793. Local income tax 990,300. Health insurance 4,667,500. Convention and visitors uh 374,561. Highway is 3,473,13. Local roads and streets 1,350,000. Boombridge 900,000. Health 469 683. You might want to change that one on there. 469683. Emergency telephone system 506839. Public safety access point operating 210,000. Park and wreck 82,737. Recreation 282,665 County Fair 222,500 Kumcap Cumulative Capital Development 757,000 for a total of 2751,46 with a adopted tax rate of total of 386. 6. Okay, here we go with some more. Emergency management right to know $7,215.

Clerk's recorder perpetuation fund $46,95. Drug fee community 82,810. County official training 10,000. Sheriff's Tax Warrants, $64,590. It department $655,314. Adult probation, 171,552. Supplemental juvenile probation service, $5,500. Special purpose jail tax, $4,878.4,878,00 4,878,68 countywide 911 14,390 with a total of 5,936,884. Anybody have any questions on the getting ready to adopt the budget? Anybody from the Yes, ma'am. It was just our

bit of a difference. Yeah, big difference. 14 ain't going towards the end. That was Yeah, it says 14,93 $390. It sure does. That should be Want to redo that one for me? Thank you. Now, she said, please. Thank you for bringing that up. You'd have been in a heap of trouble, wouldn't you? It wouldn't have lasted very long. No, that about was about what about an hour's worth changes around there. I was a little worried and just tore

Yeah. It should have been what you want to redo that again. She's redoing it now. She just she texted and said printing now. She heard. Hey. Okay. Okay. Well, she's redoing that one. Let's uh transfers real quick. Well, I tried. I tried, Kenny. She'd have lasted about a half an hour.

I had What's the Reassurance Solutions medical sensors? Is that for your jail? Yeah. are doing too bad when that coming out of special purpose. Didn't we approve that out special purpose? We did, didn't we? Cuz it's got in here maintenance to equipment for the from the commissioners and I think Didn't we approve it on special purpose, Kenny? Yeah, that was last meeting. Why are we transferring that?

Yeah. So there wasn't a line to fit anywhere to pay that 29,000. So we had to move that much money from the maintenance line to pay for it. So yes, you agreed to pay for out of special purpose, but there wasn't one set that had enough money. Okay. Just asking because I knew we approved it out of there. The minutes would have to reflect that we got it out of a different account.

It's still coming out of special purpose just a different account. So it was she moved it money from maintenance into the equipment from three from a 3,000 line to a 4,000 line. Okay. Within the same fund. Within the same fund. We're just moving it. Oh, okay. That's it out of the correct. It didn't didn't reflect that on here. You understand what I mean? It didn't explain it on here how it work, right? Okay. Okay. Okay. No problem.

Anybody have any questions? cuz most of them are insurance are insurance and then the regular transfers are on the bottom. The insurance is a no-brainer. I'll entertain a motion to approve. I'll make the motion. Ashley Ashley makes a motion. You want to second it, Kenny? Second. Kenny seconds it. Any other questions, concerns? All those in favor? I.

Any oppose? Okay. Okay. Additionals, tower maintenance. I think we approved most of this. Just had to be that wasn't advertised, right? Correct. So, this was tower maintenance, $20,000. We gave her a gentleman's agreement to tell her to go ahead with it. So, and is the work been has the work been completed? Yes. All done.

And then Josh was working with EMA and ECS yesterday of the day. I think today they're supposed to be wrapping that part up. So, yes, it's functioning and moving stuff over and that 20,000 appropriations state the 50,000 on the cash. Okay, everybody get that? [Music] I'll entertain a motion to approve the additional 20,000 for tower maintenance. I'll make that motion.

Diana makes a motion. I'll second it. Bill seconds. Any other questions, concerns? All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay. Okay. We've got two of them here for repair equipment maintenance. I think she's gave us the spiel on that last meeting. Two of them 120,000 for 250,000. Yeah. One of them coming out of statewide, one coming out of countywide. Am I right?

Split on both sides. Okay. And this is to really upgrade and the money's there. This is just the surplus that appropriate. Okay. 125,000 from each each account for a total 250,000. I think we kind of make a motion. D Kenny makes a motion to approve. Need a second. I'll second it. Bill seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I.

Any oppose? Okay. We got one for attorney litigation contract services. What's this one on? Pardon? This cobia. Is this COI? Yes. For area plan. For area plan. Okay. This coming from COIDA. It's where they Yes. We sent them the the invoices and they sent us the money. So, it's going

So, it needs to go back in. It's it again it's for attorney fees for above and beyond the typical workload. Okay. And Kobe be reimbursed on this. Correct. Which which one? One's for 2460 and one's for 22,000. 24,561. Okay. Okay. Total of 24,561. I think everybody's got a copy of it. Okay, I'll entertain a motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve. Ashley makes a motion to approve.

I'll second. Ernie seconds. Any other questions? Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed?

I think that's it on them. salary ordinance. We got one of them to go through. Okay, for the sheriff, EMA. Yep. For Gary, sheriff. And I don't know if anybody got everybody get a copy of these. No. Okay. Your deputy's moving to days. Is that right?

Okay. And EMA, we're moving Gary from 18 to 20. That's on here. and uh incentive pay for Keith Lawson.

Pardon? Okay. And detention center moving up. You want to look at here? Everybody take a look at it. Change how we use names. We have to do that every week or every month. She's struggling to get it. It's not letting her edit. So, she's struggling to get it. and we'll get it. Okay.

She said it's right and all the gateway is messed up. It is. It is. Yeah. Look at that. Um Yes. They're talking They're try their state keeps saying they're going to redo the whole whole thing. Um it's just a hard flow. There's four or five different forms and one flows to another and she's having trouble getting it to all flow into the correct into form four. Okay, everybody look at that. I'll entertain a motion to amend for amendments to salary ordinance quarter 4.

I'll make that motion. Bill makes a motion. He seconds. Any other questions? All those in favor? I oppose. Okay. While we're waiting on that to come up, Brian, you have anything for us?

Sure. children

I have any questions for Brian. Okay, let's get this budget done real quick. I think we're in the right got the right spot now. Okay, countywide 911 should have been 1,439,000. That sound better? There you go. Okay. Makes the total down there 7,361,494. I'll entertain a motion to approve the 2026 budget.

I'll make a motion to approve. Ashley makes a motion to approve. I'll second. Kenny seconds. Any other discussion? Anybody want have any other questions or think something's not right? All those in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay,

that's also on my list. Don, you have anything for us? remain strong. Alongside events, give back to our community. So last year we were able to give you interest roadside location issue.

Thank you. Anybody else have anything for us? Yeah, Daddy approached you about the township know if we'd haul stone to the park down there. I'll give Tim a call. I got a problem with that. Nobody has a problem if county highway can do it. They'll pay for the stone. I said they'll pay for the stone. Okay. I'll check with I'll check with them and see if one of them will do that. Take care of it. Anybody else? Okay. Entertain a motion. Motion to adjourn. Kenny makes a motion to adjourn. Any second? All those in favor?

I. Anybody going to oppose that one? Okay. I don't know if I can make that many motion. I tell you what.