County Council - Regular Meeting

Meeting notice of the Delaware County Council meeting of March 31st, 2026. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Jessica, will you lead us? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call, Ed. Mr. Buckhout. Present. Mr. Flangan. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Here. Mr. Piper. Here. Mr. Wyatt. Present. Mr. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Here. Mr. Freeman. Here. Mr. Cans is out of town on business today and not able to be here. Marissa, was the agenda posted? Entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. Motion by Dan, second by Jessica. Roll call, please. Mr. Flangan. Yes. Mr. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout.

Yes. [clears throat] Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Next is approval of the February 24th Council meeting minutes. Were those sent out? They just haven't been. Motion to table. Second. Motion by Eugene, second by Dan to table the consideration of the February 24th minutes. Roll call, please. Mr. Flangan. Yes. Mr. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout.

Yes. Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Moving on to the transfer and appropriation agenda, Elizabeth. In appropriations and county general, 138 courts, 109-101 administrative assistant 09, 40,000, 198-101 part-time 98, 25,520, 171 FICA, 5,375, 172 PERF, 4,491, for a total of 75,386. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Eugene, Jessica, second by Dan. Is there one here to speak on Ted's here.

[laughter]

Well, good morning. I'm Ted Ward, here on my second day in the role as court administrator, and frankly, I am a bit unprepared to speak further on these issues. Judge Calhoun is away this week. Welcome. Thank you. I'll do the fire. So, this was what was presented by Judge Calhoun at our last meeting seeking appropriation for either a full-time administrative assistant to the court administrator or part-time position. So, we would not approve the full appropriation requested. We need to make some decisions if we're going to approve anything. Mr. President. Um I was present at the finance committee meeting and listened to Judge Judy. Um she gave a nice background presentation in regards to um both either the part-time or the full-time position. And um hearing the concerns, I guess at this particular point in time with Mr. Ward having just started um and uh seeing what he has outlined in regards to uh utilizing the people that he'll be supervising, maybe uh doing some cross-training, and getting more people on board with some of the responsibilities, I guess my position is that I'd like to table this uh for now, uh and uh we'll see how this maybe gets addressed,

probably no sooner than the budget hearing that we'll have later on this year. Okay, is that a motion to table? Uh no, it's not. If I may, this is already tabled from last month, correct? That is correct. We just would leave it on the table. Yeah, we did We didn't need a motion to approve, actually. We would have needed a motion to take it off the table. So, [clears throat] we can disregard the earlier motion, so it is still on the table unless somebody wants to make a motion to remove it from the table. I do not. I agree with Councilman Mogul on this right now. Yeah, I I so agree also. I think Ted needs to have an opportunity to get his hands on this, figure out what he needs, make sure it's aligned with his priorities and what he wants to do, and then get back from him. That's suitable to you, Ted? Sure. Okay,

[clears throat]

not hearing a motion to remove, we'll leave it on the table until uh and it'll stay on the uh agenda for the next meeting. Thank you, Ted. Thank you, Ted. Um major transfer outside of county general, 1131 sales disclosure fund to 1224 reassessment, 322 postage and freight, 20,400, 371 rental lease equipment, 1,869, for a total of 22,269. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. I'm Terry Cheatham, Chief Deputy Assessor. Um this is just postage and freight. This is for our notice of assessments that are getting ready to be mailed out. And the 1,869, that is for our contractual services for Bruce. For IT. Oh, no. That would be our rental lease copier fee, sorry. That will do us for the rest of the year, for the next 10 months. Any questions? I have a question, but it's for the Auditor's office. Do we have to do this in a different order as far as the appropriations that we discussed in finance? It's a different order. It's still in there. But we forgot to mention the switch in assessment. Okay. But it's still in there, so it doesn't matter. Okay. So, it's fine. Just remember, if you approve this, then you have to approve at least the same amount in the next one. Right, that's why I I don't like backing myself into a corner, so that's why I was asking that question specifically.

Everybody understand what they just said? Yes. Yeah. Good. No further questions, Mr. President. Thank you. Anything else? Roll call, please. Mr. Flangan. Yes. Mr. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Mr. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Back to appropriation outside of county general, 1131 sales disclosure fund, 310 professional services, 5,000, 311 contractual services, 2,000, 322 postage and freight, 20,400, 371 rental lease equipment, 1,869, for a total of 29,269. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. This is the other piece of the puzzle. Any questions? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Flangan. Yes. Mr. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Mr. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. 8199 opioid grant, 101 peer recovery 18, 36,075, 171 FICA, 525, 240 other supplies, 5,400, 310 professional services, 1,800, 311 contractual services, 16,200, for a total of 60,000. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Good morning. Good morning. Jane Miranda, Community Corrections. This is our yearly opioid grant that we share

with adult probation, and we've received the first half of the monies, and then we'll get two more installments until September. Questions? Is this the Excuse me. Is this the grant that My understanding was, are you not getting a grant from somebody? Or Not that I know of. [laughter]

I hope not that I'm funded. You're welcome. Okay, roll call. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. 8195 JCC Juve Grant 101101 Probation Officer 12,000 171 FICA 980 172 PERF 1,400 173 Health Insurance 6,755 170 or 4 Life Insurance 75 175 Long Term Disability 240 310 Professional Services 9,800 for a total of 31,250. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Good morning, Jane Miranda again. I'm filling in for Jeff Hanser, Chief Probation Officer. Uh this is his yearly Juvenile Community Corrections Grant. Um and this amount is for the remainder of the year until June 30th, appropriating that amount. Questions? Begin on roll call, please. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Hey Jane, after this meeting, could you step in our office a couple minutes? Thanks. 1202 Surveyor's Cornerstone Perpetuation Fund 311 Contractual Services $40,000 for a

total of $40,000. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Morning, Tom. Hi. Hi guys, Tom Borchers, Delaware County Surveyor's Office. This is just your annual appropriation.

Yeah, I've got a contract with Ashton Land Surveyors. They're going to go back through few years where they've located some, but didn't update our office. So, they're going to update our office in the books, also update Kyle with GIS, so they're they're going to be on the on the county website, so that other people can just click on them and see the tie sheets. So, I'd say by this time next year, we'll have three to four years updated, plus another contract in line to start uh locating these cornerstones in a yearly fashion in a grid pattern in some of the busier sections of the county. Any questions or comments? I have a question. Over the past few years, have we reached that 5% goal? Last year, we didn't. It was more of a paperwork trying to hammer down this contract with Ashtons. Uh the cornerstones is aren't the favorite thing that land surveyors like to do. It's kind of like plugging a toilet for a plumber, they'd rather put in new pipes. So, I've got them hammered down for the next few years. Like I said, this is going to be caught up, so by this time next year, we should have three to four years caught up, plus a system in place where we're at least doing the minimum, probably a lot more to try to get the whole county caught up at some point here in the next few years. Okay. Thank you, Tom. Yep. Thanks, guys. Have a good day. Roll call. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. All right. Motion to approve financial transfers and to amend salary ordinance with like reductions. Second. We have a We have another transfer going. Oh, do we? Yeah. That one's been taken off. The transfer got taken off. Pardon me. Is there a second to Jessica's motion? I second. Second from Dan.

Roll call, please. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. President, just to clarify, that transfer was within the 2 300 series lines. So, it did not need to come before us. Okay. That's why it was removed. Thank you for the clarification. Yes, sir. You have a backfilling report in front of you. Motion to receive backfilling report. Second. Motion by Eugene, second by Dan. Roll call, please. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes.

[clears throat]

You have before you uh the January and February appropriations. Elizabeth, do you want to explain why we're doing this? Uh yes. Uh there was a change in legislature that I didn't realize until I went to go put the appropriations from last month in. Uh they normally don't have them available in January for us to do, so that's why we're two months behind. Um but we have a new advertising rule. We have to advertise to Gateway directly 14 days prior, and since I just used the newspaper, it wouldn't even let me put them in. So, we have to re-approve everything we already approved. Okay, this is a new state requirement. We did the They were advertised as we've always done in the past. This is a new state requirement. Make a motion to approve the January and February appropriations. I'll second. Motion by Brad, second by Dan. Any questions? I think it would be at least uh read the totals for the the three boxes if for the record. Uh the top box is the ones we already just did. So, those ones have already been approved. Do you want me to read individually and then get down to the grand total and then you guys approve that and then do

Let's do that. Okay. Please. Major transfer 1122 Project Income to 8199 Opioid Grant $527.22 County General 50,000 1152 236 LEPC Right to Know 20,304 2502 Pretrial Diversion 49,364 12,247 Supplemental Public Defender $3,509.31 9224 DCCC Drug Problem Solving Court 10,000 9223 DCCC Mental Health Problem Solving Court 2,500 9225 DCCC Veterans Problem Solving Court 7,500 1122 Project Income 2,500 1195 High Tech Crime Unit 30,338 1150 GIS Electronic Map 150,000 1180 Comp Fund Can't Comp Plan Funds 225,000 1207 Unsafe Building 85,000 1224 County Assessor Reassessment 20,000 1131 County Sales Disclosure 5,631 for a total of 662,173.53 And go ahead read the rest of them. Go ahead and read it all. Okay. Yep. Major transfer 1146

311 to 1126 311 30,000 County General 356,184 1195 509 High Tech Crime Unit 9,500 1192 uh 228 SVO 12,000 1135 190 Cumulative Bridge 1,072,106.24 for a total of 1,479,790.24 Any questions? So, we are voting to approve the the re-approve the appropriations from January and February. Roll call, please. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Mr. Mogul. Yes. Mr. Buckhout. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Ms. Cans. Mr. Hughes. Yes. We have no ordinances or resolutions to consider. I am not aware of any appointments or committee reports. Under old business, I ask Treasurer Brad Hope to come up and update us on the negative hiatus issue that was addressed last month. Good morning. Uh Brad Hope, Delaware County Treasurer. Um unfortunately, I don't really have an any kind of an update because we're still working between the two offices, um the auditor's office and my office, um with our bookkeepers, and are still looking at the encumbrances um in question. Um we're hoping to have it figured out here in this week, uh in either this week or early next week, so we can report back to uh the

council on that. And we're contemplating that there will be a resolution that we'll need to adopt to once you make your findings. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm not Like I said, I'm not sure where where the issue was with the um I think it has to do with encumbrances from the previous year. Um and so that's what we're looking at. So we'll but we'll keep everybody updated on that as soon as we find out exactly the amount and what's going on with that. Questions? Brad, when you do have some idea of what the issue is, can you let me know that way we can make the determination if there's something that we need to prepare for next meeting? Exactly. Right. Thank you.

Well, that's why we're hoping to have it next this week, um so it gives you plenty of time if we need to uh for next uh for April's meeting. Sure. Just let me know. Okay, then. All right. Anything else for Brad? Thank you. All right. [clears throat]

New business. We have an amended meeting schedule. Would you like to tell us why we're amending our schedule? So that Again, this is just to adjust the deadlines so that we meet our advertising for the appropriations in Gateway. Okay, the meetings themselves have not changed. This is No. deadlines for filing with the auditor's office. Any questions? Need a motion to adopt the amended meeting schedule.

So moved. So moved. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Any other questions? Roll call, please. Ms. Flannigan. Yes. Ms. Wyatt. Yes. Ms. Mocko. Yes. Ms. Walke. Yes. Ms. Piper. Yes. Ms. Kintz. Ms. Hughes. Yes. Any other new business? Now we'll move on to elected officials and department heads. Does Sherry have a go at Sherry? I did. Okay. Does Jim have a go at Sherry?

Jim's got a share. [laughter]

Good morning, Tony Skinner, Delaware County Sheriff. Uh what I just passed out is my uh annual year-end review that I do every January. Wasn't ready in January and I was not here in February, so it's a little late this year, but better late than never. Uh the first page is uh pension update. Uh as I call this every year the Ron Quakenbush review. Um last year our pension did pretty well. We started the year with 22.9, 22,939,000. We finished the year at 25.5, uh about 11.35% increase, and then you can see how much your contribution was, how much our 3% from our deputies was. Uh and then on the next one it looks like I'm missing a zero. That should be 100,000. And then the yearly distribution. Um so this is what I provide every year, and then of course the fees at the bottom for the three big institutions that it takes to to um invest our pension money and distribute that money to our recipients. Any question on that? Sheriff, does the uh does the 11.35% gain include the county council contribution of 1.4 million?

It does not. That is just the investment part portion. Thank you. Yes, sir. Um I I talked to Chris Calloway up um we had lunch a couple weeks ago. Um I want [clears throat] to say that he said we're about we're about 65% stocks and 35% bonds and cash, so if you would compare that to the S&P at the at those ratios, um once again our return did beat the S&P by uh half a percentage point or something like that. But so um decent return. Next page is um out of county billing uh from our jail. Uh so the top portion is the four counties that have paid us in 2025 to house their inmates. Uh the second section is from the state of Indiana for county felons, paroles, and level six felons. Uh the third section is from um the US Marshals for housing federal inmates. Uh the total last year that our jail generated was uh 1.684 million. Uh so just shy of 1.7 million dollars. I want to commend our corrections officers uh for the hard work that they do. Um all that money uh with the exception of some money that we get back um for gasoline uh goes into the county general, and then you can see the since we moved into the new Justice Center and started housing uh out of county inmates and federal inmates, our 5-year total is about 5.2 million dollars. Pretty substantial. I'm quite proud of that. There again, I give all the credit to our jail employees, our corrections officers, and

correctional staff, medical staff, everybody that works in the jail. Sheriff, where do you think we'll be this year compared to last year on these items? Uh I think that we'll be we're we're on track to to do the same thing. Somewhere between 1.6 and 1.7 million. I don't remember right now how much how much we budgeted or we uh forecast last year during our budget process. Um I 1.4, maybe something like that. So

That sounds, yeah, about Yeah. I I I believe I was thinking about this this morning on my way in. I believe that every year since 2021, um we've brought in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands more than we anticipated the previous budget cycle. So we've been a positive every year. Appreciate it. Other questions or comments on this page? Uh page three is just um our training numbers for our department. This is just for the merit side. Um we we did an uh 11,878 hours of training last year for our deputies. Uh that averages 270 hours per deputy, and uh state statute requires that we each deputy receive 24 hours. So you can see where we're at with our training. Training's very important to us, and we take it serious. Uh the last page is a uh jail inmate report. Uh shows you month by month what our average number of inmates were in the jail. Um I want to direct your attention to the to the second column and the third column. Um PTP and that's pre-trial probation, and the the next one is pre-trial home detention. Um I know the commissioners fund this, um but this stresses the importance of those two programs that are done from the probation um office, and and I believe uh community corrections also, but pre-trial probation, those are people that went to jail, and then they got out of jail on on probation before they uh before they went to trial for what they were charged with. And then the second one is pre-trial home detention. So both of those columns are people that went to jail and then got out of jail in

these programs, and if these programs didn't exist, these people would most likely be sitting in jail till they went to trial. Um right now we're about a little uh about 82% of capacity in the jail. Um the Department of Corrections recommends 80% as a maximum. So I'm not saying we're overcrowded um by by any means. We're a 500-bed facility. Um but when we when we reach 80%, that's when I get a little concerned. So once we hit 400 this morning uh yesterday we're about 420. Um so I you know, that's really pushes my boundaries of what I'm comfortable with. But if it weren't for these two programs, we'd be in deep doo-doo. So uh remember that um at budget time to to you know, it's important to support these programs.

[sighs]

That's all I have. Take any questions. Questions? Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you. Thank Corner Green. Hello, Gavin Green Dell, I'm the County Coroner. Uh just wanted to give my monthly updates uh that I like to give the council so they won't be surprised if any high numbers ever come in. Um we've had 189 uh calls for the Coroner's office and uh that's averaging about 63 a month. And we have done 42 um autopsies year to date. So, those autopsies can either be included full autopsies, a partial limited autopsy, medical review for the uh if we have any medical records that need to be reviewed by our doctor. So, that's um total we've done is 42 of those. Any questions?

Questions? Thank you for the update.

Thank you. Other elected officials, department heads? Seeing none, um I'll check the old. Just to give you a quick update. Uh Brett Pol uh County Treasurer. Um so, I just wanted to let everybody know that the tax statements are in the mail. Um so, everybody will be pleased to see those, I'm sure. Um not really. But, one thing that I did notice this year, we got the update on that um that we are the collections are up a little over $130 million, whereas whereas that is um about 4 to 6 million more than it was last year. Um so, and a lot of that is due to the uh increase in assessments that came out from the state uh earlier this uh well, last year. And uh so, looking at um you know, obviously we're going to be collecting hopefully collecting more money. Um so, that'll help, I think, in the end uh for the budgeting and everything. So, just wanted to let everybody know that. Appreciate it. Okay. Questions? Thank you. Could somebody check and see if any public None. Thank you. Mr. Wright?

online, either. Pardon? There's none online, either. Okay. Anyone else wishes to speak to the council this morning? If not, comments from council? I'd like to welcome Mr. Ward. Thank you also for being here this morning. Um [clears throat]

By the time we meet again, farmers will be out and about, so please just be aware of slow-moving vehicles. We want to get safely to our destination just like you all want to get there safely, so please be patient with us. We do the best we can. Thank you, Mr. President. I have one comment I would think the council should recognize young man Hayden DeLong who was given the citizen heroism award by the Sheriff's Office. Quick thinking and bravery uh saved what could have been a very disastrous situation. Any other comments or questions? Entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Roll call, please. Mr. Wright? Yes. [clears throat] Mr. Wyatt? Yes. Mr. Vogel? Yes. Mr. Vogel? Yes. Mr. Piper? Yes. Mr. Stans? Mr. Hughes? Yes. We're adjourned.