County Council - Regular Meeting

Call this meeting of the Cal County Council, Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 in order. Uh we'll begin with an opening prayer by Amy.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just come to you this morning with gratefulness in our hearts, gratitude, and uh just a a love for all that you're doing uh in our county. And Lord, we ask that you would be with us this morning as we do the work of our citizens. Uh we thank you for the rain. Thank you for the beautiful day that uh even though it's raining, Lord, we know that it's all for our good and we're grateful that you give us the things that we that we need. give us the wisdom that we need today in Jesus name. Amen.

Please stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Okay, everybody's Copy of the minutes. Do we have any additions or corrections make February 2016? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes. Make a motion to approve the minutes. We have a motion by Crosser to approve the minutes. Do we have a second?

Second.

Second by Rick Ring. All those in favor of approving the minutes from February 26th February 11th meeting signify by saying I. I minutes are approved. Okay, we have two additionals that we need to take a look at and approve. The first one comes from debt service central dispatch and uh it is fun number 4605. Number 32780. Count title as other service fees. The amount requested is $50. The paying agent fee increased from $750 to $800. Was this included in the annual budget request? The answer is no. And the reason was we were not aware of the increase at that time. How will this appropriation be used? It'll be used to pay the annual paying to pay the annual paying agent fee. Specific cost is $800. How was this cost determined? An invoice sent from region's bank. Is this a reoccurring expense? The answer is no. Will other expenditures be necessary? The answer is no. Was it discussed with the leaison? Yes. And leaison's name is Bob Craft. Do we have a motion to approve the $50 transfer request from Central Dispatch?

Additional. Additional. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. We have a motion by Bob Craft and a second by Amy Proer. Any further discussion on the additional? just that you know just a comment that you know we're doing the budget in July and August and September and a lot of times these these companies come through with increases um you know in the November December time frame. So by that time you know we got to have the budget approved before October one. So by that time we're kind of between the rock and a hard place. So

yeah, good point. Thanks Rick. Um, okay. We have a motion and a second. We'll call for the question. All those in favor of the $50 additional, please signify by saying I. I. Transfer additional has been granted. The next one we have comes from uh uh Superior Court 2. The fund name is court reform. What is GRT? Grant. Grant.

Yeah. Grant. Uh, super two. The fund number is 9163. The account number is 44420. Account title is computer equipment. The amount requested is $35,000. Um, was this included in the annual budget request? And the answer is no. The reason it was not included was the grant just approved as of 12326. How will this appropriation be used for the project detailed in the grant? The grant application which was approved is submitted with this request. Specific cost of the item was $35,000. And how was this cost determined? Um cost analysis crant application. Is this a reoccurring expense? The answer is no. Will other expenditures be necessary? No. And was it discussed with the leaison? No, it wasn't. And that is Daveyard is Lea Aison's name. Do we have a motion to approve the additional for $35,000 from Superior Court 2? I'll move. We have a motion by Rick Ring. Do we have a second? Second by Bob Craft. Susan, you want to go over this briefly,

please? And then I would have a question. Number one, um, in order to apply for grants, the we need the permission of the commissioners supposedly. And secondly, uh, does this project replace any of the additionals or any of the expenses that we authorized last year to improve sound and communication within that courtroom? Does it replace money we were spending out of the general fund?

I know we discussed this earlier with with Patrick here. Um, but I I'll be honest with you, I have not seen the grant. And it's all for things that we would have to pay for if they didn't get the grants. That's great. But

is there any more questions? No. Any reason? Good job, Susan. Thanks. You asked for 40 and you got 35. Is that just something common? You don't get full.

All depend. I don't know. It all depends on the grant. I mean, and tax or Rick's question. There's um a lot of grants that are applied for that commissioners may not be aware of at the beginning. Um, and with this one being a judicial grant, um, the commissioners don't have any signatures in it. It's the judge that does all that. So, I mean, the judge did ask me about it and sent me the information that he was doing it. as far as I can remember, um, he had come in to talk about it, but it wasn't actually in the budget. And and quite honestly, the only reason I even bring it up is because over the course of this legisl legislative period, it became a topic of conversation among many of the counties about whether or not when grant was applied for they had authorization to to apply that, which needs to come from the commissioners. Sometimes things flow and and and yes they get a you know they get a permission in a conversation or whatever but not formally but uh it has become a topic of conversation over the last 3 months.

The grant has been approved. The money is here. Uh the money is not here yet. I don't believe it's approved. Yeah. Okay. Any further question? I think just one comment that this we have a grant to pay for it now, but in the future this could become part of their budget if they wanted to continue to use this system. Correct. So just a thinking ahead of Good point, Amy. And I don't know when I'm sure they'll contract and all the other things. Correct. Yeah. Good point.

Any further discussion from the council? Okay, we have a motion and a second. We'll call for the question. All those in favor of um the grant transfer of $35,000 signify by saying I.

I oppos. Motion is carried. Okay, we do have some transfers that do require the council's approval. The first one is uh superior court 2 and this is legal reference materials and that is uh from Y22410 to legal fees 32820. The amount is $4,000. And uh why is this transfer needed? Not enough funds in our legal fees account to pay a public defender for representation of a defendant. Will additional appropriation be requested due to the state? Was it discussed with the liaison? The liaison is name is not there and I would think that would be me on that one. So we have a request to transfer $4,000 from ref legal references to legal fees. Do we have a motion to approve?

So moved. We have a motion by Rick Ring. Do we have a second? Second by Chris Craft. Okay. Uh any further discussion or questions from the council question this as to is this legal representation within our own public defenders office or is this a is this someone that is having to be hired outside because of conflicts? I do not know. I do not know. It was not discussed with me. I I would assume it's somebody outside.

Yeah. before we actually vote. I'd like to know that answer before we actually vote on it because if it's within our own public defenders office, I wouldn't see the need for this. But if it's somebody from the outside, which I understand if there are conflicts, we're going to have to pay someone. But we ought to have that answer before we actually vote on it. Okay, we'll table that. Can you Okay, see what I can find.

We'll move on to the next one. And this comes from community corrections is being transferred or asked to transfer from travel training education fund number Y34295 to CPR. Um certification cards fund number 22735. Why is this transfer needed? CPR AED certification has always been budgeted under account number 34295 training. We are informed by Leanne that it is only the certification cards that we are paying for and we need to pay from account number 22735 CPR certification cards. Will additional appropriation be requested due to this transfer? The answer is yes. The leaison's name is Amy Ski, do we have a motion to approve the transfer? This is for $350.

I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion by Bob Craft, a second by Bill Van Y to approve the transfer of $350. Any further discussion or questions from the council? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of approving the $300 $350 transfer request, please signify by saying I. I opposed. Transfer is granted. Who motion and seconded then? Uh Bob Craft made the motion. Bill Van Y seconded.

Okay, moving on to the next one. It is from the covered bridge maintenance fund coming from the Decal County Highway Department. Fund number is 1134 and the amount to be transferred is $191,7325. Again, it is from account number 22310, repair and maintenance supplies to account number 32780. The account title is other service fees. Again, the amount is $191,7325. Why is this transfer needed? Invoice contains labor expense, so it is necessary to be paid accordingly. Will additional appropriation be requested due to this transfer? The answer is no. Was it discussed with the leaison? The answer is yes. And that leaison is Bob Craft. Do we have a motion to approve the transfer from the highway department for $191,7325?

Have a motion by Bob Craft. Do we have a second?

Second. Second by Rick Ring. This is strictly because it has labor in the bill. If you look at the bill, the next page, it has labor in it. So you can't pay it from just supply account. It has to be in that other services account. Okay. So, just like he said, there's Okay. This has in order to pay it, it has to go from the cover bridge fund to the other services fund. The and Chris, we do a lot of transfers like this because it's budgeted in one place, but it's very the state board of accounts is very strict on what can be paid from what account. So, it we have to transfer it. Can't pay for labor.

No additional money. It's just we have it in the wrong pocket. It has to go to the other the other place. pay for labor out of a supply account. But any other questions from the council hearing? None. We'll call for the question. All those in favor of the transfer of $191,7325 from the highway department signify by saying I I oppos. Transfer is granted. The next one comes to us from the change academy. This one actually is a second to the prior one dealing with the CPR cards. They're just paying for it out of two different funds. Okay.

So, it'll sound the same.

Um, this one again is um from the community corrections change academy. Fund name is juvenile school fund fund number 4116. The amount to be transferred is $75 and it is from account number 4116.34295.026.0913 0913 that is from the travel education travel training education fund to account number 4116 22735 026913 the account title is CPR certification cards and amount requested the transfer is $75 why is this transfer needed uh CPR AED certific certification has always been budgeted under account number 34295 training. We are informed by Leanne that is only the certification cards that we are paying for and need to pay from account number 22735 a CPR certification cards. Will additional appropriation be requested to do the transfer? And the answer is no. Was it discussed with the liaison? Yes. And that was Amy Demsky. Um, we have a motion and a second. Any further questions from the council on the $75 transfer? And I think Susan's already pretty much answered that question why we need it.

Okay. Hearing none, we'll call for the question. All those in favor of the $75 transfer. You need a motion. You have I thought I'm sorry. I thought we had a motion. Okay. We have a motion by Amy Proer. Thank you, Bill. Uh, do we have a second? I'll second it. Second by Bill Van Y. Again, any questions uh from the council? Hearing? None. We'll call for the question. All those in favor of the $75 transfer signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Transfer is granted. These next three are all to do with the same thing. You can take them all together or not.

You can take Okay. Do we have consensus from the council to take the next three as one? They're all three to do with the spot expenditure. So somebody

they're all from the tiff district. So do we have consensus? Okay. Okay. Thank you. So we will do these as one. The first one uh comes from the auditor and it is for $1,28624. The the fund is uh uh the SDI fund number 451. It is from account 99500. The account title is miscellaneous expenditures to account number 44520. The account title is police equipment and that is for $1,28624. Why is this transfer needed? Invoices for some of the SWAT expenditures that RDC approved were received and this is putting the money into the correct expenditure account. Will additional appropriation be requested due to the transfer? The answer is no. Was it discussed with the leaison? The answer is yes. And that leaison's name is Bob Craft. The next one we want to uh address here is uh regarding the American Heritage Village and uh the department is the auditor fund number 45502. The amount to be transferred is $5,46024. It is from account number 9950 miscellaneous expenditure to account number 44520. The account title is police equipment. The amount is $5,46024. Why is this transfer needed? Invoices for some of the SWAT expenditures that RDC approved or received and this is putting the money into the correct expenditure account. Will additional appropriation be requested due to this transfer? Um the answer is no. Was it

discussed with the leaison? The answer is yes. And that is Bob Craft. And the last one we have is Again, it comes from the auditor. Fund name is New Millennium. Fund number is 45503. The amount to be transferred is $1,28624 from account number 9950. Account title is miscellaneous miscellaneous expenditure. Account uh number 44520. Account title is police equipment. The amount is $1,28624. Why is this transfer needed? Invoices for some of the SWAT expenditures that RDC approved were received and this is putting the money into the correct expenditure account. Will additional appropriation be requested due to this transfer? The answer is no. The liaison uh was discussed with yes is Bob Craft. Do we have a motion to approve these three uh transfers here?

I'll make a motion. Have a motion by Bob Craft. Do we have a second? Second by Chris Craft. Any further discussion from the council? This is RDC just approved to have some of the tiff money pay for some police equipment which is well within that jurisdiction to do that and it's just moving it the right account to pay for the bill. Correct. Thank you. Do we have any further discussion from the council? All those in favor of approving the transfers signify by saying I. I. I.

Oppos. Transfers are granted. That is the last of the transfers and additionals that need. We'll come back to that first one. I'm trying to get an answer. Thank you, Susan. Um, moving on. We have, and there's no reason we can't do this a little sooner, Randy, you're here for the airport. If you'd like to do it earlier, that's fine. or you can sit there for another 25 minutes. Okay. Thank you. You're most gracious.

Thank you. And I already have mine. Yep. Thank you.

Well, good morning. Um, you should have received our uh briefing document. Um, the I'll go over these photos first. Um, Rick or Rick Russ is probably not the most photogenic guy on Earth, but he is my scale. So when you look at these pictures, uh the very first one is the new MB5 broom and plow that we'll use at the airport. Um Russ is standing inside the end of the uh breeder blade. And uh picture two shows him standing next to the access to the cab. So you can see this thing is quite a piece of equipment. Uh, I think it's got a 27 foot broom on the back that's 36 in in diameter. There's two motors that run this thing. One that propels it, one that runs the broom. And uh, so this it'll clear 27 ft at a time. Our runway is 7,16 ft long and 100 ft wide. So this thing takes at least four trips up and down the runway to clear it. Um, and the guys are good at doing that. So they they kind of minimize their their access. Picture three shows the plow from the front again with rust for scale. So you can see 27 ft across. Um and it it flexes a bit so it can be adjusted for width and uh and clearing. Uh the uh fourth picture is the old uh multi-purpose tractor with a blade on the front that I think is 14 ft wide or maybe 12 ft. The wings go out and make it 14 on the ends uh when they want to push. Um the fifth picture is Russ standing by the blade of

the new fence tractor that was delivered. And again, this one gets, I think, almost 22 feet wide when you fully extend the wings uh to clear. Picture six is Russ again next to the fent tractor. The fent is kind of neat because if you drive it one way and you end up in a flat spot and it's not easy to turn around, you just basically turn the whole driving system around and take it off backwards. So you don't have to be doing three-point turns all the time. You can just turn this thing turn this seat around and drive it in the opposite direction. Uh picture seven is again Russ standing by the greater blade snowblade of the old truck. And uh my understanding is this truck that we've been using now since 2005 was a county highway truck that was traded in and the airport bought it back and put the blade on it. And I've got a little better picture of the broom that they're pulling behind this. Russ said this truck is on its sixth transmission. He said the new MB5 will keep us from getting stuck on flat terrain because that the transmission just blows out. It's pulling too much weight for its gearing and and size and all. So, as part of the report, we're going to order a new truck to replace that. Actually, uh the uh eighth picture is the the truck with the broom attached. Um it has a spreader attachment in the bed. The new truck is going to have an integral spreader in the bed so we can spread the ice deicing equipment or sand as necessary and then use the truck throughout the year for hauling equipment. And then the very last picture is just uh comparing the two

brooms from the front. You can see the old one's 24 in, the new one's 36, and the width makes it a lot easier to clear. All of this equipment is going to stay except for the dump truck. Um, so all of this can be used at once because not only do we have the 100 foot wide runway, we've got a 30 foot wide taxi way that goes the full 7,000 ft of the runway now, plus all the feeder lanes and the space in front of all the hangers. So, uh, between Jason and, uh, Russ and the maintenance fell. Uh they'll be out there with the two brooms and we've got a Bobcat that has a 10-ft blade on it to clear around the uh all the uh hangers. So equipment wise, this is what they're going to be using to keep the runways clear. Again, our goal is to increase jet traffic in and out of our airport. Uh so we again we've expanded the fuel capability. We now got the runway cleaning equipment that we believe will last and uh can keep the runways clear and keep us operational. I know the last storm the guys were out there every two hours. Um when it's actively snowing, they don't do much. Kind of like the county highway doesn't do much to blow off an inch of snow and then have to go back an hour later and do it again. So they were out there every two hours checking. And there's a system that the FAA has for grading the runway. And when the runway gets down to a point where it needs to be cleared, there's a message that's put out to the pilots that might be incoming to know that there will be equipment on the runway. And these vehicles are equipped with ADSB transceivers.

Uh it's an automated surveillance system for aircraft. So, if I'm flying and Dave's flying, his airplane tells broadcasts out his location, his altitude, his speed and direction, and it can show up on a GPS map. My airplane does that as well. So Dave can see me, I can see him. Well, these vehicles all have ADSB on in them. And so when they're out on the runway or on the airport, any aircraft that might be coming in, if they didn't see the message, they can see the vehicle on the runway because ADSB is not required in all aircraft. So, um, safety wise, we're looking at clearing the airways, the runway, and not getting run into by airplanes and, uh, keeping the, uh, the system open. Thought you might be interested in seeing what equipment we've actually been buying and using. Any questions on the Boto?

Oh, Randy, real quick. Now, the system you're talking about, does that all small aircraft have to have that system? Yes. So, regardless of one person flying an old plane or whatever,

there are some aircraft that have no radios in them. Um, we have one that's out at the airport. is a biplane Waco has no radio in it and so it does not have ADSB but if it has the radio system in it was required to be installed a year or so ago and it gave they gave people 10 years to do it. Um so it's an integral part. This is one of the systems that eventually you're a pilot, if you go to Detroit and you want to fly to Arizona, right now they they take a a route following ground installations, when this is done, they'll take off from Detroit and they'll fly right straight to Arizona without making any extra turns burning extra fuel because ADSB lets them see where all the other aircraft are and they can plan their route that way.

One other question. um on the on the brooms there and I guess you'd say bristles. How often do you have to replace the bristles?

Um I asked Russ about that. He said they they stay pretty well. Um I mean they're designed to stay. Uh I know if you go around the city after the uh street sweepers been out about every 10 blocks you'll find two or three of the bristles big steel spikes. They look like that'll be on the street. These are not supposed to leave those. Uh these the brooms are all the bristles are replaced in in segments. So everything's put together with all the bristles in it. You slide an old one out, you put the new one in as it wears down because they do wear. But uh exactly how often those get out, I don't know. But you know the FOD, they call it foreign object debris. We don't want objects on the runway that could be sucked up by aircraft or punctured tires or things like that. So, uh the that's a concern of the equipment that we don't leave debris on the runway to interfere with the aircraft.

Hey, thank you Randy. Does anybody else have any questions for Randy? Randy, I think you said that one of your one of your goals is to increase the business traffic. Yes. Traffic. Yes. and that getting a lot of this new these new vehicles and um equipment is part of that. Is there any other pieces of equipment that you guys see that you're going to need in the future? And how what is the rest of your plan to increase that business traffic? I see it's pretty low at this point compared to what is it single engine. So just looking to see like what what else are you doing to help improve that?

Well, uh part of it was the renaming. Um, okay. It puts us alphabetically at the top of the list. So, if you're looking for an air airport, Auburn shows up first, which was part of our our

that and then we're advertising our our website has been improved uh and will be improved again. Um, we've just done that. We're advertising in different free spaces. Um, and then of course pilot um Word of mouth makes a big difference as well because people that fly in uh Sweet Aviation has well those guys are top-notch. I I can't say enough good about uh Chuck and his his guys uh do a great great job. So we're doing everything we can. Uh, plus we're going to have the biggest general aviation runway in the state of Indiana. And we're right in between Fort Wayne, Detroit, uh, all of northeast Indiana. And if you want to land and have a safety margin, we're the place to go. So, we're doing all those things together to make sure that we attract new business.

Is there any other equipment that you see that you guys are going to need?

Uh, at this point, I don't believe so. Um, I think on the very front page, you can also see this little white box over in the corner. Uh, that's a portable generator that we have set up so that if the power would ever go down, um, we can haul that out. We've got a tie in right out by the uh um out by the building we call terminal. and we can tie that generator in there and power all the lighting on the runway and taxiways so that we don't have someone halfway ready to land. The power goes off and all the lights go off. Um so we've got backup power and now with all the LED lighting, this one generator will handle all of that. Randy, the um the other thing that would most likely attract more business to this airport

is going to be the addition of the hangers so that right business aircraft that is now being stationed in other locations can be moved here. But until we get that those hangers up and running, right, that's not available. The other is that none of this equipment or expense comes from county general. No, there's a there is a minimal county tax rate, right? But none of this comes from county general. No, no. This is all from the airport. You are moving towards self-sufficiency.

That would be our goal. If we can get enough business to the point where fuel flowage, rentals, and all of that. Um and again if we we've got that 70 acres if we could develop that and get an income stream our goal would be to get off the tax rate altogether. Now you have a written plan for that have do you guys have a written plan for that yet?

No there there is no written plan other than we have advertised the property. We actually were in a uh there was about a 10 property lottery I guess you want to call it. Uh we had people come out uh review our services, what our services are, what's available, and uh apparently we lost out to someone further south. But uh we are advertising uh obviously through the the county's bureau and uh general again with our website and all that we have that 70 acres available. We want to prepare it. It's got water. It's got sewer. It's got uh 440 electric. It's got um internet. All available on that site.

Well, the one of the other things that we might have lost out on because of it is the fact that we we truly need another exchange off of I69. I know that that is that is in the works, but u that's many many many years coming. Yeah.

I know that's under discussion. Um, they're talking about either County Road 68 or 60, put another interchange in. I'll be surprised to see maybe one of those will happen. Um, 60 would put it right in line with the airport. So, if that happens, that might be a we, you know, it might it might happen. It would certainly affect our business. We have had aircraft in and out hauling supplies where they would bring a truck out, load the airplane up, take off and go to to ship materials across the country. So, that has happened in the past. I don't know how often it is now, but we are trying to expand the business. And

I think if they if they chose County Road 60, and none of that has been decided, but chose county road 60, it would it would lessen our need to improve County Road 60, which was one of the the highway department's biggest number one issues. Yeah. For development over the next couple of years. Yep. We we wouldn't have to do that. We can help the state might be able to help us do it. That would be fine. I I know there are active discussions on that. U the Allen County crew are pushing for one as well. Uh I don't know what the I'm not involved in that directly, so I I can't give you any direct information on that.

And also, as long as Fort Wayne's growing this way, you're going to have businesses out there. We got easy access to our airports that would help grow it, too. Absolutely. And another thing I don't think you mentioned it, you know, she was when Amy was talking about, you have lowered your your dependence on the kelp taxpayers the last oh several years as as your rate has gone down and everything. So they've done some of your you know work on that.

Yeah. Uh we we've gone I think over the last 12 years we've gone up. 033% at our our tax levy that we've advertised. So, we're doing our best to keep everything neutral, increase our income and business out there, and eventually don't want to say ignore you guys, but get us off the tax rolls would be the ideal situation in the long run. We don't have a goal for that yet because we don't know if some big company shows up and wants to put up a, you know, a Google distribution center out there. We don't know. could be a bunch of small ones, but it we we just need an income stream to that we can guarantee before we start looking at changes in our funding within the county.

Anybody else have any questions for Randy?

Okay. And then I got like three quick things here that we did order a new truck. We've signed a maintenance contract with uh American Elevator. Um, Otus was not We have a hydraulic elevator that leaked. I guess there was like four inches of hydraulic oil in the bottom of the pit and Otis wouldn't even come look at it until the pit was drained and cleaned. So, we put out um quotes, requests for quotes, and uh we signed a new maintenance agreement with uh American Elevator. Um we are we anticipate that by December the three new sixth place hangers will be uh constructed and available for occupancy. The folks that are in the first A and or B and C row A row is gone. B and C that are left the old blue hangers we anticipate by January of 2027 that those will be torn down. So the folks that are in those now, as soon as the new hangers are available available for occupancy, we want their aircraft moved so we can get rid of those hangers as soon as possible.

Will the new hangers accommodate larger planes than the old ones? Yes, a little bit. Uh the old hangers had sliding doors on them, dirt floors and some of them still.

Uh these new ones will be concrete. Uh they've got the the biffold doors that come up. hydraulic. Um, apparently I asked Russ because that was my first concern was that looks like a complicated door. And he said it's not. It goes up and down easily. And if we had a failure of the hydraulic system to raise and lower the door, they back one of the trucks up or one of the tractors up. They got a special hose to hook on to hook to there and they'll blow the doors up with the uh hydraulics off the tractors. So, we've got a backup so nobody's stuck inside if uh unless they, you know, blow a hose out or something to where the system won't work. We've got a backup actually to open and close those. And then lunch on the fly uh starts this month um or it starts in April and uh from 11 to 1 they'll be serving lunch in the main hanger at the terminal. Um, you're all welcome to come out. The board meeting is on the third Friday at 1 pm. I want to thank Councilman Craft and his wife for coming out to our last meeting. Thank you very much, sir. And with that, I'll get out of your way. Anybody else have any questions for Randy? Thanks for your report, Randy.

Okay, moving on. We have um an ordinance amendment that does need a council approval. Yes. Can we go back to that transfer real quick so we don't forget? Sounds good. Um and Dylan answered me and it is an Allen County public defender, not one of ours. Okay. It's an Allen County public defender. The request is

and that was for $4,000 going from the legal reference materials to legal fees.

Did you get that, Rick? It's for Allen County representation. Did we have a motion and a second? Yep. Okay. Thank you, Rick Ring and Chris Craft. Okay, thank you. Any further disc any further discussion on the $4,000 transfer that's being uh requested from Superior Court 2 hearing? None. I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the $4,000 transfer signify by saying I. I opposed.

Transfer is granted. Okay. The next item of business is the salary ordinance amendment. This is from the 2026 salary and hourly wage ordinance. It's an amendment. The ordinance number is 2026-C4 and it is amending ordinance number 2025- OCC-12 and it is uh developmental services the account number 1193. The job title is Butler planner contract pay. City of Butler is uh increased the pay beginning in 2026 per contract. It is bi-weekly and it is up to a maximum of $79230. Do we have a motion to approve the reading of the title only?

Have a motion by Bill Van White. Do we have a second? Second by Bob Craft. Okay, since we have a motion to second, is there any further discussion from the council? This is just uh uh Butler raised their rates on their employee and all this is is raising his with the alliance of what Butler Butler have done. Yeah. So, I had included um the contract or agreement that the commissioner signed and it I highlighted it says the yearly budget for this agreement will reflect shall reflect any city pay increases starting in 2026, but we would have not had any idea what that was when we did budgets.

All this is doing is just getting his money lined up. This is all Butler's paying him for services that help them get their their uh planning commission going, right? I say that right lady. Are you good? Any other further uh discussions to come before the council? Again, we're I'm going to call for the question. This is approving only on first reading title only. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I oppose.

Okay, it has been approved on uh first reading title only. Next, we need to uh suspend the rules so we can go to a second and third reading. Do we have a motion to suspend the rules on this? I'll make that. I'll second it. We have a motion by Bob Craft and a second by Bill Van Y to suspend the rules only. Any further question for the council? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of suspending the rules signify by saying saying I. I post.

Motion is granted. Uh We have suspended the rules. Now we're looking at a second and third reading. Uh for approval, do we have a motion for approval on second and third reading? So move. I'll second. A motion by Rick Ring, a second by Amy Proer. Any further discussion to come before the council? Hearing none. I'll call for the question. All those in favor of approving the amended ordinance number 2026-C4 signify by saying I.

I oppose. Motion is granted. And it has been approved. Okay. Let's take uh while we go on, let's take a five 10 minute break here real quick. Here we'll be at recess.

Okay. Yep. Next up, we have Steve with the Northeast.

Good morning.

I appreciate the opportunity to uh visit you again, talk about the good works that we're doing at Nor Eastern Center. Um, I wanted to acknowledge a couple of my staff people who made it here today. Uh, Daddy Fuentes is my chief clinical officer and Seth Gibson is my chief operations officer. And they very instrumental in the success at Northeastern Center and all we do for the community. So, I want to acknowledge them. Um, Nor Eastern Center is one of 24 community mental health centers in the state that serve the 92 uh counties. We are the designated excuse me community mental health center for Noble Lraange Stuben and Decal. So that means a couple of things. It means that we receive county funding and it also means that we have an obligation responsibility to provide a full continuum of mental health care. It means that we need to be transparent and we need to be good stewards of those dollars. So our mission at Nor Eastern Center is that we help individuals achieve emotional and mental wholeness through affordable, accessible and quality behavioral health services and we work to put those p that mission into practice um every day. So uh we are staring down 50 years of being the community mental health center. Um 2027 will mark our 50th um anniversary. So, I'll spend a little bit of time talking a little bit about our continuum of um services that we provide. Um, also, I wanted to note that you should have received about three weeks ago our county report. I have some extra copies if you need it. Um, but if you've got it, if you're good, you need one or I can hand a couple of these around.

Yeah, I can make more and it is in packet. It's in our council packet.

It's in the council. So, I want to highlight a few things in the report and glad to entertain any questions or comments that that you may have. One of the things I think is really important is to know that the people that come to Northeastern Center, we provide the full continuum of care. Talk a little bit more about what that means, but we also see a full continuum of problems or challenges from people. We serve about 5,000 individuals a year at Northeastern Center and some have a severe and persistent mental illness. Uh but there are others that are on the other end of the continuum. People who are having marital problems, anger management problems, substance abuse problems, everything in between. So the community mental health center system in Indiana is set up to be a safety net. We serve everyone who comes through our doors. And I really want to emphasize a lot of the people that come here are our friends, our neighbors, our brothers, our sisters. And so part of I think my job, our job is to also um destigmatize the people that need behavioral health services. So if you the I I'll kind of sprint through this and again I'm glad to entertain questions or comments. So, it's important that we have representation from each of our four counties on our board. We have a 13 member board of directors and I've listed the three members uh from Decal County as well as our board president. And then as you get into the report on page two, I highlight we highlight some of the community partnerships

that we have with our stakeholders specific to uh DeCalb County. Um, as I mentioned, the full continuum of care. What does that mean? That means we offer inpatient, outpatient, we have a clubhouse program, we provide case management, we have psychiatrist, we have therapist, um, we have a community health and outreach center here in Auburn that serves all four counties. We've had a real emphasis on moving into a certified community behavioral health clinic model, which I won't get in a lot into a lot today. The acronym more acronym CCBHC, but it really highlights our um crisis services and immediate access to services. So, as I mentioned and it's mentioned and it's noted on page three, um, in Decal County specifically last year, we work on a July through June fiscal year. So, this is for FY25. We serve,2 county residents. 199 of those were youth, which does not include 183 individuals we served through school-based services here in the county. On the financial side, we operated at a loss last fiscal year of about 6%. We're about a $21 million company. If you line us up from largest to smallest of those 24 CHC's, we're about 17th. So, the majority are bigger than we are. We're not small, but we're not we're not huge. So um funding is really a challenge in the behavioral health space as it is for many other industries right now. Thus far through the fiscal year uh 2026 7

months in we're also operating at a loss. So we're making some adjustments uh with that in terms of controlling our expenses and working to find additional revenue streams. Um, our total charity care, which includes our contractual adjustments, our client assistance, and our bad debt, um, centerwide is about 9 to10 million. And for Decal County specifically, uh, as noted on page four, it's 2.1 million. So, um, we receive about 400, um, I want to say about 420,000 from the county and that gets put to towards that um, our charity care and also our our Medicaid match. So, again, we feel like it's a good investment for the county and we're good stewards of that money. Um further into the report it gets into some information you may or may not be interested in the kind of clients that we see how the di different diagnosis the different issues challenges they have that kind of thing. Um I do want to point out on page seven of the report seven and eight of the report these are couple measures that are very important to me and it has to do with patient satisfaction. Um we are consistently uh over 95% um in terms of satisfaction from our clients or our patients. You can see specifically with decal, it's right in that area. 90 95% of the individuals who complete our satisfaction surveys are satisfied. They're happy with their services. They note that they're improved functioning, if you will.

And the last page of the report and you will find this um all of the counties we have to provide to the state and this goes to the um in.gov county provider reports website. You can find it on any county. There's simply a two-page report, but what we put together obviously is much more comprehensive than just what's required by the state. But page eight of the report that I sent you contains those client satisfaction measures and the uh MHSIP is for adults and there um are eight measures that they look at and uh Northeastern Center was above the state average compared to other community mental health centers on all eight of those measures. The YSSF is for youth. And out of those seven measures, we were above the state average on four of those seven. So, really solidifies the good work that my staff is doing at Northeastern Center and the uh improvement that we're seeing with the clients that uh put their trust in us at Northeastern Center. Uh the final thing I I'll mention um I wanted to update you on what's happening the last seven months at Northeastern Center because again this is a fiscal year 2025 report and I wanted to just emphasize our crisis services because that's a center um it's a centerpiece of the CCBHC model. So, uh, we have a, um, program called NEC Cares, which is a 23-hour, uh, crisis receiving and stabilization program where anyone can come in. It's designed for people who don't need to be in the hospital, don't need to be in jail, where they encounter people. I've

talked about this here before, um, people in the community, some people are homeless, a lot of people need just simply need help. they need um a variety of things. So, law enforcement uh brings individuals or people simply walk in to our NEC cares unit. They are there for approximately 23 hours. Uh and the cost savings for this um we work with Blue & Company out of Indianapolis and for our area we project that we're saving about a million dollars a year because these are people who uh are don't need to be taken to jail and they don't need to be taken to the emergency department. So instead they come to us. So really proud of that program. it. Um, last year, which our fiscal year 2025, we had 719 different admissions to that program. Thus far through 7 months of fiscal year 2026, we've had 977 individuals.

Steve, question on that. And those are not just uh pic county residents because that facility serves all four counties. That is correct. And even individuals outside the county. So, whoever kind of walks through our doors, I think we're getting more people from Allen County. Um, we're really evolving that program because it's got some challenges, but we're doing a lot of good with that. It's it's challenging to get people out in 23 hours.

Um, but um, our average is actually a little bit higher than that. It's about 26 hours. So when we look at those 977 times people have been this uh fiscal year they are staying on average about 27 hours there.

Does that affect you guys funding wise or anything? I mean is it when it goes over the 23 because I know the 23 was keep it under a 24-hour period. Does that how does that impact your program? Yeah, there there is uh this is a national program so there are fidelity standards so it doesn't directly impact our funding uh but it does impact our fidelity as we continue to we've done this program for a couple of years now funding is a challenge with this program it's a it's a program that we lose money on. So we're working real hard to um secure funding and keep the funding going for it. Um, so yeah, we want to get that down closer to, you know, the expect the expected standard of 23 hours.

The u I just it's so important to our county and so important in those situations where um what would have happened before this is they would have either gone to jail or to the hospital and bottled up those two um systems and cost a whole lot of money. And like he said, most of the time those folks are just absolutely off of medication, they might just be, you know, confused, having a bad day, whatever. And if they can solve that and get them through that and get that medication whatever it needs,

we need to we need to add to that function, Bob, because there was a bill that was passed in this past legislature that did get signed by the governor that criminalizes homelessness. And throughout the legislative uh session, we worked with uh counties and there at the very end uh with the governor's office uh to try to redirect that criminalization from jail because the way the the law is set up, if these people are arrested three times within 300 ft of the same location because they're camping or they're they're living, you know, behind behind the bushes or whatever, then they can get a if if there's not a bed within five miles of that location, they get sent to jail. And what the county council association was trying to do and what the um association of counties was trying to do um was, and I made the suggestion, encourage them to use these kind of facilities. that it's much it's much more appropriate because they're immediately going to get somebody that's assigned to them to help them through the issues uh to you know why are you homeless mo I think and maybe I'm wrong and Steve you can probably tell me different but um I think the majority of this is going to be a mental health issue not just a financial issue but even if it is a financial issue they immediately get assigned to somebody that can help them work their way through the system and find the right help. Uh so, um that's going to start. Um I think there's there's been some stories about it in the Indianapolis Star already and a couple of uh uh newspaper u news uh TV channel uh programs on it already, but uh I think we're going to see more of

that. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's it's very interesting times.

Very very much so. But you know, a lot of And and I don't want to jump ahead of you, Steve, if you're not done, but uh during this session, there was a lot being said about CHC's and there was a lot of there was a there were bills in there that would have made our funding of the CMHC a may rather than a shell. And we were able to that was that was changed. I mean, there were counties that didn't want to have to contribute to their local CHC's. Uh, but the um legislature came out in support of the CHC's because mental health is such an important issue and that um you know that we need we need to provide as much assistance as we can possibly provide. And Steve actually was one of the people that uh spoke in favor of the CMHC's because Are you still the president of the U assoc the the association for the state?

I am.

And um so he he had some positive uh things to say and this is something that I've been involved with since I've been on council. When I first got on council, I was involved because of the amount that we're required to pay to the CHC and it was a big controversy. So that's 12, it goes back 12 years and maybe probably farther than that, but um they are providing us a service that we absolutely have to have. And I know at the time it came out that most of what we were providing um was as the backup to the Medicaid uh that you had and that to lose this amount of money would would uh affect your Medicaid funding. But we and since most of this ends up being paid by Medicaid, I would think

we can afford to our citizens can't afford to lose that um support. At the end of the legislative session, I think one of a couple of things that they decided on was number one, communication was the biggest issue across the state. Now, since Steve has taken over as CEO, we have had better communication with the Northeast Center than we've ever had. Uh we've had we've had input on who gets on their board, which we didn't have before. Um they have they have been supportive in every possible way that they could. And that's one of the things that's in this new bill is that there has to be better communication with the with the local county. Now, I'm I'm a little bit hesitant as to how this next piece is going to work out, but you now will have to show every year that the money that we're putting into this u to the center, how it's being spent within Decal County, not generally across the four the four counties, but how it's specifically being spent here.

Right. Um so, you've got a challenge. I think they added a few different items that you have to include in the report too if I remember correctly. Yeah, we're not 100% sure how we're going to do that yet either, Rick. But we we will we will do that. We will do that. Uh I appreciate those those words and we work really hard to be transparent. One of the things that resonates with me is when I hear that

for some reason, and I get it, what we do at Northeastern Center and the other community mental health centers, people don't know. and people don't know what we do and we want to be an open book. Um, and so this report is one of those steps. Me coming here is one of those steps. I want to be available to any and all of you at any at any point. And really we need to part of it is on us. We need to do a better job of telling our story and and um again that's all part of this equation. I think I think Northeast Center probably has their board has got more county representatives than than than most. And uh I think you've got a couple of county council people on the board. You one one that's required because of your home office being in Noble County, but you've also got people from Stuben County.

Yeah. Ruth from Stuben and Max Franklin from Noble County. Yeah,

we have some really good good uh community-minded people. They really underscore the community. We're a community mental health center. So, we're here to again be good stewards and do what we can to help the community. So, again, really excited about the crisis services. A little bit concerned about the funding. We know that some CHC's are cutting back on their 247 coverage, which we certainly don't want to do. You also cannot operate any business at a loss forever. we've had reserves to help make up the some of the numbers. So, we're starting to stabilize. Um, and so again, we're looking at how can we control our cost and what are some additional revenue streams. But again, the crisis services is really a a centerpiece. So, as I mentioned, 977 individuals through seven months we've served there compared to 719 the entire year last year. We also have a designated mobile crisis team. Uh I think we were somewhere around the 12th or 14th in the state. Now they're up to about 20 of those. So a mobile crisis team. I won't get into the details of that, but this is all part of 988. Someone to call uh someone to respond and a safe place for help. So last year our mobile crisis team responded to to 30 calls. We've only had the mobile crisis team about a year and a half. Last fiscal year they responded to 30 calls. Thus far through seven months they've responded to 98 calls and they uh get there on average uh 48 minutes on average on location. We want to improve on that but it's within the standards and then we also have a not only 988 but we also have an 800 crisis number that we get about 2,000 calls a year. Chief.

Yeah. Um, in these situations where somebody makes a phone call, if they call the police first, are the police able to call that crisis team? If they eval get on site and evaluate that, hey, this isn't a situation that requires police possibly maybe are they able to call or if they are they stuck with the police once you call the police? Um, typically if we're we kind of assess the situation and we don't want to put our folks in harm's way. We're not a replacement, right? I'm just saying sometimes, you know, we've had situations at the Y because it's a big public p place and you hate to call the police that because the person's confused, you know, you know, they just need help, but at the same time, you got to provide safety for,

you know, all the patrons that are there. So, um it would be better sometimes possibly to call absolutely you guys first and then you can call the police other than rather than the other way around. Absolutely. And we send out when we when we do dispatch the team, it's a twoperson team. Yeah. So nobody goes out by themselves. And so I think the awareness of that for public places and businesses would be really important whether it be the Y Walmart or wherever that right we don't always call the police first you think it's appropriate. Hey quick question. Um at what age is a child considered an adult? Is it like 18? 18. 18. Okay. Uhhuh.

Thank you. Another question, Steve. Um, as we kind of think about the way health is changing to kind of include mind, body, soul, right? You guys are kind of in this mind space. How do you work collaboratively in the community with different organizations that focus on a person's health and maybe spiritual aspects as well with them?

Yeah, that's a great question. And so part of the CCBHC model that we've um that we are working towards and we're doing now, we are doing physical health screenings. We're not doing treatment yet per se. That's kind of the next step with this, but whether it be St. Martins's or um other places. We've had a partnership with Neighborhood Health, so we will partner and have a two-way coordination or referral that way. Um, when you start getting into spiritual things, that gets a little bit sticky. And kind of our position is we will bring it up if our client brings it up because we accept public dollars and we don't want to

of course um, you know, steer any anyone towards here's the answer. I think more the question was more of do you work with local churches or anything like that like hey this person is saying that they also need some kind of a spiritual help is there anybody you reach out to we do we maintain we maintain if someone says hey I'm I'm Catholic I've got away from the church and can you hook me up with somebody then yeah we have resources we say let's contact that person and yeah it's a great question thanks

and you guys are involved in the uh the mental health coalition that exists in the Cal County. And then I know that there's a youth mental health coalition that I'm or committee that's part of that that I'm on. I think you guys have representative. Yes. I've worked with um Oh, Headley or Yeah. Corey Hedley. Cory Hedley in the past. I don't know if she's still there, but she's she's awesome. So, I mean, they thank you.

They tend to be at all the stuff that I'm at when it comes to mental health, and they tend to be kind of the lead one of the leaders. There's others, but They tend to be one of the leaders in those kind of co collaborative efforts. And it's a tough, you know, mental health's a tough thing for us to address as a community, but we need to work together more and more and collaborate more and more with across entities to to try and get make it better. Anything else you want to add, Steve? I I don't think so at this time. I appreciate again the opportunity. appreciate all the all the hard work that you guys do. We appreciate the support from the county.

You provide a tremendous service to Decal County and just want to thank you and your staff for an excellent job. Um, this is a it's a big piece of the puzzle here and uh you provide a a great service here. You really Thank you very much. I got a good team that makes me look good most of the time.

I to lead off of Rick's things. We do appreciate you coming here giving us the facts. When I started on this board several years ago, all we know is we had to give so much money to these and we never knew how they were spending it, what they were doing. We're just required to spend it and you know and there was times where we tried to look to somewhere else because we didn't know what you guys were doing. Fortunately, we stayed with you guys and I do appreciate you coming in and explaining what you're doing and and where the money's going and everything. So, thank you very much. You're welcome.

Thank you, Steve. You know, one of the other one of the other things that came out of the um that particular bill um previously, I believe the money the funding that we provided to the Northeast Center or to the CMHC all came from the general fund. And when they flipped from May to a sha from shall to a may and then back to shall they did make a change in that it now can come from any other fund that we have other than federal funds. It cannot that money cannot come from any federal funding. So, it most of the counties that have brought it up are looking at maybe using part of the opioid uh settlement as part of this funding. Now, some counties and I think we may be there have already appropriated or already set up a budget for that. So, that may not be an option for us, but we do have the ability to take it from another fund if needed.

It would make sense. Public safety lighted public. Well, but that goes away. going away. That's going away. That would be it. Maybe next year, but sorry. Okay, moving on. This concludes our business here for the council today. And I will look to Chris Craft for the most famous words. Not yet. Just yet. Yes, Rick. Sorry, Dave. You told you didn't tell me not to bring anything else up.

I was hoping you'd pick up on it. I just want to um I just want to emphasize there are two meetings that are coming up for county people, county council people specifically that are very important. U there were a lot of changes that were made in the legislature this year that uh are not going to totally take effect this year or next year but have been some of them been pushed out another year. But the uh Association of Indiana Counties uh district meeting for Northeast Indiana is on April the 15th. It's a Wednesday night. It's at the lighted acres in Wells County, which is I think between Bluffton and OEN. I've been to a couple meetings there and I don't remember exactly where it's at, but that's that's April the 15th. And then June the 13th is the state called meeting. The state board of accounts has the county council association call a state called meeting every year in June. This year's is June 13th. It's at the Renaissance Hotel in Carmel, Indiana. Same place it was last year. And we will have a number of indivi there will be a number of legislators that are there to explain what has happened this year and what's going to be happening in the future with local option income taxes and property tax. And there our um our governmental affairs person at AIC uh Jamie Bosler is going to be one of the presenters and we have Ryan Hoff was a great uh contact for us, a great uh business government relations person for

us. Uh but and he was a Decal County boy. So I I was always pushing pushing Ryan. But Jamie, he left and went to Farm Bureau and Jamie is now with us. Jamie is previously a county council person in Howard County. He previously was the assessor in Howard County. She was previously a school uh the school finance officer in Wayne County and she left the DLGF as chief of staff to come to us. We have never had anybody as educated and well-versed in government finance as what we have within her. And she did a tremendous job for us this this legislative session. And we have never ever had the kind of detail that we've now have available to us. So, it's important that if you can attend either one of those meetings to please do prefer that you attend both, but if you can attend either one, you'll get you'll get uh Jamie will be one of the presenters at April on April 15th. In fact, I think they're going to do a before the actual dinner and actual district meeting that evening, they're going to do a class that morning that afternoon that on on the financing. So, it is important to attend if you can. Unfortunately, the last two years it's always been at the ACD Museum here in town. This year, they've moved it to Wells County. So, and with that, I I want to just second that just because of Rick not running again. We've always relied on Rick to keep up on all this and some of the rest of us are going to have to step up and get involved in these state meetings and keeping track of what the legislature is coming through or we're going to be lost. So,

I'll try and make the two. We've got to We've got to get more involved. Myself included. Yeah. I believe in the power of three. Are you sure you're done? I'm done. Are you sure you're done? I am done. Are you sure you're done? I am sure I'm done. I make a motion to adjourn the meeting. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion, a second to adjurnn. All those in favor signify. I oppose. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody.