MIAMI COUNTY COUNCIL
25 NORTH BROADWAY
PERU, INDIANA 46970
April 15, 2008

President Click called the April meeting to order. Councilman Duckwall led us in prayer and all recited the pledge to the flag.

Council President Click told the audience that 5 of the Council members will be attending the AIC meeting to learn about the impact HB 1001 will have on the County. They will also learn of the added responsibilities they will have in the future.

Commissioner Hawley invited the Council to the ground breaking ceremony on Thursday for the new jail. It will to be at the jail site at 3:00 pm.

MINUTES
Councilman Hunt moved to approve the minutes. The motion was 2nd by Councilperson Mull and passed 6-0. Councilperson Mull did not receive the minutes so she did not vote.

EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS
1. Sheriff Department in the amount of $8,640 for part time help for Beth Pond. The Auditor had advertised both the Rainy Day fund and the River Boat fund to give the Council options of where to pay this appropriation from. Councilman Duckwall made a motion to pay the part time appropriation from the Rainy Day Fund. The motion was 2nd by Councilperson Mull. The motion passed 7-0.

2. Governmental Consulting Services in the amount of $10,000.
This is an assessment service of our financial status and a planning strategy for our future financial needs. A motion was made by Councilperson Mull to approve the appropriation in the amount of $10,000 from the Rainy Day Fund. The motion was 2nd by Councilman Wiles. The motion passed 5-2. Councilman Kendall and McAuliffe voted against this appropriation.

DEEDSVILLE DRAIN FUNDING
Commissioner Deeds spoke to this request. He explained that the funding was appropriated last year but due to no contract the funding had to expire at the end of 2007. The Drainage Board wishes to have the $10,000 advertised and appropriated from the Rainy Day Fund next month. After some discussion it was noted that the Auditor would advertise this to be taken from the Rainy Day Fund.

REQUEST FOR AUDIENCE
Clerk of the Courts, Debbie Walker spoke to the Council concerning the need for possibly another 2 employees if the 3rd Court is funded. She also wishes to have all her employees on one floor of the building for better supervision. No action was taken. Councilman Click asked how many employees she has. She has 13 employees at this time. Councilman Click asked if the employees could share some of the duties and work load for the 3rd Court for a time. She said she has a part time girl that works for 3 days a week. If she had her work 5 days they possibly could.

Councilman Click explained that with the County Assessor’s work load going up and the employee request from the new jail project the County is going to have to figure out ways to cover as much as they can and possibly share work loads. Councilman Click told Mrs. Walker the Council will give her request due consideration.

2-1-1 REQUEST
Commissioner Hawley spoke of the $5,000 the County has supported this project for 2008. They will need $7,500 for the 2009 budget year.
Jan Douglass gave the Council a fact sheet concerning the services and volume of services they have provided since they began. She said they are hoping within the next year or two the State and Federal funding they have requested will come through and they will not need the County’s funding. She said Miami County is the 65Th County to provide this service and our hub is with Howard County. Howard County has over 20 years experience in this so we are fortunate we were assigned to them.

JAIL QUESTIONS
Councilman Wiles had some concerns and questions for the Sheriff. He asked when the jail will open. Sheriff Roland told them the target date of September 2009 is the current opening time. Councilman Wiles also asked if the 11 employees the Sheriff has spoken of are new employees. Sheriff Roland explained that these were additional employees.
Councilman Wiles asked where the money is going to come from?
Commissioner Hawley said the numbers are not new and this has been discussed from the beginning. He also said that they are planning to house inmates from other Counties and maybe from the Department of Corrections. Right now we have obligations to surrounding Counties that have housed our female inmates for free. The Sheriff explained that one jail who housed 50 DOC inmates brought in around $600,000.
Councilman Wiles said he wants another work session for the 2009 budgets.

Commissioner Hawley explained the Jail seminar he, the Sheriff and the Construction Manager attended. Commissioner Boyer said we cannot put our finger on the exact time this jail will be ready to move in to.
Sheriff Roland also explained that the current jail was built for a larger staff than it has now. Fortunately, nothing has happened. Councilman Wiles stated that funding is the issue with the Council. After some discussion it was decided that the cost would be around $37,000 per staff member. Council President Click thanked Councilman Wiles for bringing up the subject for discussion.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
Sam Waltz told the Council that the roads have had a lot of failures due to the bad winter. With the cost of oil, fuel and asphalt he will not be able to have nearly as much road repaving as he would like. He said they used to have 2 major projects and now they are down to one every other year. He stated that the Commissioners wanted him to ask for CEDIT Funds. He asked that the Council allow the funding for road materials to be added to the 2009 budget out of CEDIT. Council President Click told Mr. Waltz that the Council will be looking at all the budgets.

Mr. Waltz said the Cumulative Bridge rate is lower than the Cumulative Court House rate and asked that they look at those rates.
The Council thanked Mr. Waltz and said they are going to look at every area of the budgets.

COUNCIL DISCUSSION
Councilman Click brought up the schedule for the work shops. He asked if the week of June 9th would work and then have August 19th and 20th for the budget hearings. The final adoption hearing would be on Sept. 16, 2008. After a lot of discussion the Council decided that the afternoon sessions being from 1pm until 5 pm on June 2nd and 3rd and 9th and 10th would work best.

Councilperson Mull moved to adjourn. The motion was 2nd by Councilman McAuliffe and passed 7-0.

Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

_____________________________
Brenda Weaver, Auditor