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COUNCIL MEETING ATTENDANCE: COUNCIL: Mitchell Proctor, President Darrel Thomas, Vice President Lana Schimpf Richard Lyon Keith Berry Larry Parker COMMISSIONERS: Donald K. Walton, Vice President ATTORNEY: Timothy Bookwalter AUDITOR: Kristina Warren AUDIENCE: Thirteen Individuals The Putnam County Council met in regular session on May 18, 2004 at 6:30 p.m. at the Courthouse Annex. The pledge to the flag was given. Nancy Fogle was not present at the meeting because she was in the hospital due to a broken ankle. CUMULATIVE JAIL & JAIL ADDITIONALS George Alexander came to the meeting to answer any questions. 011-30303-792 $9,757.00 Repairs & Maintenance REASON: For a new 20-ton compressor on air conditioner. 001-30341-308 $201.87 Medical REASON: D.O.C. reimbursement monies. Requesting it to be put into the medical account. Keith Berry made the motion to allow both additionals; Larry Parker seconded. The motion carried. JAIL REPORT George Alexander stated the jail was averaging 72 D.O.C. inmates a day. Putnam County is the largest D.O.C. holder in the State. He also informed the Council that the department had hired some new deputies to fill some empty positions. Mr. Alexander gave a brief background on the deputies. He also told the Council that it was necessary to purchase another vehicle. The vehicle was paid out of the commissary fund. OPERATION LIFE FINANCIAL STATUS Rick Archer, Director passed out a financial overview. Last night he gave the Commissioners a figure of over $400,000 in the red. He discovered a mathematical error since then and it should be around $212,000 in the red with the current runs they were doing. Mr. Archer said it was not just the daily run count going down but the change in the law regarding Medicare and Medicaid that was causing their financial woes. The change in the law had severely hurt their finances. Mr. Archer said they had already made a number of cuts in their budget. If they cut anything else it would have to be ambulance service. They were currently staffing three 24-hour ambulance services. They would have to cut that service to the county. It was to the point that tough decisions were needing to be made. He was nervous with the current balance in their account which was $75,000. They needed the county to help out financially until the runs increased. Mr. Archer said he had researched what a couple of other counties contributed to their ambulance service through taxpayers dollars: Owen County 31.25 % Parke 33% Putnam 13% Mr. Archer proposed that the county help Operation Life financially with the drop in call volume. They budgeted for 10 runs a day and if they only had 8 runs a day the county would offset the lost revenue for that month with a cap of $20,000 per month. Larry Parker questioned the increase of $250,000 in the budget. Mr. Archer explained it was because of the additional ambulance they now had and staffed in the northern part of the county. Mr. Parker asked if they purchased a new ambulance. No, Mr. Archer said they were using an ambulance that had already been in their fleet. They had been under the impression they would get the ambulance PMH had utilized; however, that had not come to fruition yet. Operation Life was really running one ambulance short. He would like to have the extra ambulance as a back-up. If one ambulance broke down they were short an ambulance. Keith Berry asked about the loss in Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Archer said they used to be able to go after the individual for the difference in cost per payment from what they received from Medicare and Medicaid. They can no longer do that. They have to write it off per the law. Because of this they have had to increase the ambulance service cost quite a bit. And, because of this it has detoured some people from calling for an ambulance. They will take the chance of driving to the hospital on their own to save money. Mr. Archer said he had spoken to a representative from the State on what they could do. He was told from State Board of Accounts that some counties used E.D.I.T. and C.A.G.I.T. He was not sure how the money was currently used in the county for funding mechanisms. Lana Schimpf asked what was the staff at Roachdale. Mr. Archer said six full time employees. Ms. Schimpf asked if they were all new positions. Yes, since they took over the northern part of the county in January. Larry Parker asked where the low volume count was coming from. Was it the northern part? Mr. Archer said he hated to point out a specific area. They were low everywhere. Mr. Parker questioned the six staff members for the northern part of the county. Was this not a large expense for such a low volume count of runs per day? Mr. Archer said it boiled down to response time. If they did not have the ambulance there a person could wait 30 minutes or more before an ambulance could get to them. It was a public safety issue. Mr. Archer said his goal tonight was to make the Council aware of the financial situation of Operation Life. They had made the Commissioners aware last night. He realized the Commissioners would need to make a recommendation to the Council since Operation Life was in their budget. Mr. Archer hoped they could all work together and come to a workable solution. CUMULATIVE COURTHOUSE ADDITIONAL Don Walton came to the meeting to answer any questions. 013-30303-791 $100,000 Repairs & Maintenance REASON: To pay for the installation of new windows on the 3rd & 4th floor, tile work on two of the porches of the courthouse and railing for the north side of the courthouse, etc. Darrel Thomas made the motion to allow; Richard Lyon seconded. The motion carried. LIBRARY CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND Alice Greenburg, Director of Putam County Public Library came to the meeting for their annual request of the capital project fund tax rate. This request was for budget year 2005. The big item they were working on this year was the bookmobile. It would be wired to have a satellite and have live Internet service on the road. Also, the library was facing a system migration, which would be a major expense. The current system will no longer be supported in five years so they were looking at a new system. Darrel Thomas questioned the system specialist in the budget. Was this a new position? No, Ms. Greenburg said it was upgraded to a full time position in 2003. Keith Berry asked how many counties had a bookmobile in the State of Indiana. Ms. Greenburg said around a third of the counties. Since they covered a large area they felt it necessary to have one in Putnam County. Ms. Greenburg said this was the Library’s first step in the process of getting the property tax levy. After this she would then give the paperwork to the State. Then, during the budget process the State would go over it again. Darrel Thomas said he wanted to play devils advocate and ask what happened if the Council denied it. Ms. Greenburg said the process would stop and they would not receive a tax levy for the capital project fund. The Library Board would then have some tough decisions to make. Darrel Thomas made the motion to approve the amount of $282,100 for the Putnam County Public Library capital project property tax levy; Larry Parker seconded. The motion carried. LIBRARY BOARD APPOINTMENT Mitch Proctor said the Council had paperwork regarding board member Vicki Timm. Ms. Timm’s term was coming to an end. The Library Board was requesting the Council to reappoint Ms. Timm. Darrel Thomas asked about term limits for the board members. Ms. Greenburg said a person could serve 4 terms for an equivalent of 16 years. Lana Schimpf made the motion to re-appoint Vicki Timm; Keith Berry seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 911 FINANCIAL UPDATE Dave Costin, Director passed out paperwork showing the financial overview. He went over it with the Council. Mr. Costin said his current balance was $9,500 in the red. With monies projected coming in he will be able to pay his bills until July then he will go in the red and stay there without any help from the county. Mr. Costin said the landlines had decreased which caused his financial problem. More and more people were switching to cell phones. The county did not receive near the amount of money from the subscriber fee on cell phone versus landline. He suggested 5 options: 1) county general fund, 2) hazardous waste fund 3) health insurance trust fund, 4) riverboat wagering distribution and 5) assessing fees to government entities for services rendered. He would need to check with Tim Bookwalter, County Attorney to see if number 5 could be done. A mutual agreement would have to be drawn up if this was even feasible to do. If they did this route then any entity charged would have a say so on the administration of the department. Larry Parker questioned the department even doing the extra responsibilities for the other departments. Mr. Costin said they monitored the deputies for their safety. Mr. Parker wanted to clarify if 911 were doing more than emergency telephone calls. He had never been told what they did. Mr. Costin replied the department does the following: answer telephone calls from public – emergency and information calls, monitor emergency department personnel for their safety, calls for assistance: accidents, dogs, fire it varied on the reasons for the telephone calls. They also track time and data for agencies. And, assign case numbers and then send information to the departments. On the calls, Mr. Parker said it would be interesting to know how many were actually emergencies. Mr. Costin said he had not done a status for awhile but probably around 20 to 30 percent. Mitch Proctor asked what other funding sources were available besides the ones thrown out already by Mr. Costin. How do we fix the problem long term? Mr. Proctor said to assume county general does not have any money and the other options do not work. Mr. Costin said that was hard to say. It would take some time to turn around the finances for 911. It would take around 10 years to crawl out of the hole through wireless fees. Mitch Proctor stated there was no other funding options to go after for 911? Mr. Costin could not think of any. Larry Parker said the Council could take money from this fund or another to fix this year. However, what about next year and the year after. We need to have a permanent fix. Mr. Costin said there was a registration fee to people that had an alarm system. It was a $40 one time only fee. Maybe they could make it an annual fee or increase the fee. Mitch Proctor said the county might need to start looking at raising property taxes. He knew no one wanted to discuss that option but the county needed to look at every option available. The emergency departments were needing more and more money and it was getting to the point that they were taking all the extra money and it was leaving nothing for the rest of the county government. State Representative Andrew Thomas pointed out that according to the report Mr. Costin passed out Putnam County was the only agency in the State of Indiana that was funded totally from subscriber fees. All other counties were helping to pay the expenses of 911 from county taxes. Representative Thomas also pointed out the high fee Putnam County had for landlines. It was almost forcing people to go to cell phones to save the $40-50 per year by not paying the high rate. The cell phone had a lower rate. Representative Thomas said if re-elected in November he would be more than happy to draft a bill to allow for an increase in the cell phone fee. He was willing to review the problem with the wireless phones. Don Walton said during the Commissioners meeting last night it had been mentioned that there was 2.2 million dollars in the hazardous waste fund. However, they received $63,000 a quarter of new monies. Why not use the new money for 911 and Operation Life. That would still leave a balance of 2.2 million. Keith Berry said there was several options discussed tonight. However, he had never heard the suggestion of cuts in the current budget. Mr. Costin said he did not suggest that because there was not any "fat" in his budget. The only item he could cut was repairs and maintenance. He could cut it and pay per job instead of a contract. However, if they have problems they could pay out more that way. It was a double-edged sword. The next would be personnel. He currently had two people work at a time and had people on call if the call volume spiked. Where do you cut? Richard Lyon said the 911 Board had been wrestling with the financial problem for the past few meetings. Where do you cut? Mr. Costin said if EMD passed the county would need more financial help. He passed out paperwork that would show the difference this would make in the 911 finances. He was not sure what the requirements would be. He planned to attend meetings to find out more information. He has tried to do EMD with two dispatchers and it was not possible. Mitch Proctor said at one point the State needed to step up and help financially if they wanted these programs. They needed to quit making these law changes and expecting the counties to try and come up with the additional funding. Representative Thomas said it was a great concern. If you reviewed the last few years all emergency departments expenses had went up astronomically. And, the State was in bad finances. He did not see how the counties were doing it. Representative Thomas said the core problem was the landlines decreasing. Mitch Proctor did not agree. He believed the system was flawed. We should not tax the phone lines. We should have a separate tax. As a TDS employee the fee was making them uncompetitive. There was a definite flaw. Keith Berry said they needed to make sure that the people who benefited paid for it. Mr. Berry felt the property tax did not address that. HUMANE SOCIETY UPDATE Joanne Cole came to give an update on what was going on at the shelter. She passed out paperwork and gave a brief overview. Ms. Cole said they have been attempting for several months to resolve the dispute between the two boards. They have not had any response or communication from their offer to the other board. They had to move forward with court action and have a date set, which she believed was May 28. A Judge from Vigo County would hear the case. Ms. Cole said their finances were tight. She asked if the Council would approve another month’s worth of money to pay their expenses. This would be in the amount of $5,000. Lana Schimpf made the motion to release another $15,000. She felt they had proven they were managing the money well. By giving $15,000 they would not have to come each month to the Council. Richard Lyon seconded since he had been working with the Humane Society Board. Ms. Schimpf said she made the motion to open the floor for discussion. Larry Parker felt it should be $5,000 to encourage the two boards to resolve their differences. Keith Berry said he would like to see them come each month and give an update. Call for vote: Lana Schimpf and Richard Lyon voted in favor of the motion. Keith Berry, Larry Parker and Darrel Thomas voted against the motion. Keith Berry made the motion to release $5,000; Larry Parker seconded. The motion carried. AMENDED SALARY ORDINANCE FOR TREASURER’S OFFICE Janet Deaton, Treasurer said she was not asking for any money. She only wanted to increase the hourly rate for her part time help. The new rate would be up to $10 an hour. Keith Berry made the motion to allow; Larry Parker seconded. The motion carried. COUNTY HOME Larry Parker said the Council had been invited to the County Home on June 7 at 12:00 p.m. for lunch. COUNTY WEB SITE Lana Schimpf said the committee had been moving forward and had a sample site running. PROPOSAL FOR PARKS Darrel Thomas asked Don Walton to give a quick overview. Mr. Walton said he had met with some of the park board members. They would like $20,000 for Big Walnut Sports Park. He suggested using part of the riverboat wagering money for the parks. This would be $20,000 to Big Walnut and $5,000 to other parks in the county for a total of $50,000. The money was given to the county and he felt it was a good way to spend it. The county would be giving the money back to the community in a way. This was not approved at last night’s Commissioners meeting. There would be future discussion. PARKING LOT Lana Schimpf asked about what happened on the parking lot request made by the City of Greencastle at last night’s Commissioners meeting. She was told that nothing had been decided. Ms. Schimpf reminded the Council that at the time the old jail was sold the money paid to the county ($30,000) would go towards parking. MARCH 16 & APRIL 20 MINUTES Keith Berry made the motion to approve; Larry Parker seconded. The motion carried. ADJOURN Larry Parker made the motion to adjourn; Keith Berry seconded. The motion carried.
_______________________________ ________________________________ Mitchell Proctor, President Darrel Thomas, Vice President
_______________________________ ________________________________ Lana Schimpf Richard Lyon
_______________________________ ________________________________ Keith Berry Larry Parker
_______________________________ Attest: Kristina Warren, Auditor
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