Last updated Feb 6, 2024 – 1300 hrs
Commissioner Meeting Notes Feb 5, 2024. Music Center, Fire Districts, Appointments
Audio of the Meeting and Agenda
Disclosure. I am running against Jerry Pittman in the Republican primary for Commissioner, District 3. I believe in a fact-based decision-making process involving all the stakeholders that will be affected by a decision. I also believe in maintaining the documentation that supports the decision. I am opposed to decision-making through improvisation – where a few keywords are used to fabricate a story justifying a decision that is not supported by the evidence.
Fire Districts? This was interesting. Jerry Pittman expressed his support for Fire Districts. He thinks the fire district in Hamblen Township is a model for the county. Currently, township trustees provide funding and the VFDs elect their own leadership. Townships have taxing authority.
Fire District – Legal Action and Costs $$$$. This issue of fire districts was very contentious a few years ago – Wolpert was a commissioner and voted for fire districts and was not re-elected. There was pushback and legal action from the community, new commissioners, and the VFDs, and the case eventually was settled by the Indiana Supreme Court. History: Fire Districts Brown County
Eclipse. County zoning does not allow primitive camping for financial gain. Our EMA Director, Chad Jenkins wrote an assessment of the situation: “Total Solar Eclipse Event,(TSE) 2024 Threat and Hazard Analysis with Risk Assessment” 2024 TSE Risk 012624
Gnaw Bone Regional Sewer District. Board member Dave Hess identified his intent to retire from the board after 15 years and has been asking for help over the past year from Commissioner Pittman and the BCRSD. He is finally getting the needed support and had to cut short his convalescence from a medical procedure to attend the meeting.
On the call for help, the BCRSD could have provided immediate assistance but they wanted to first know the condition of the plant and maintenance/repair needs.
Kevin Allen of BLN has been selected to provide engineering support. The county’s legal counsel stated that the commissioners can appoint new board members for vacancies for a county elected office exceeding 30 days (IC 3-13-7-2). The Gnaw Bone RSD has approval from IDEM to opt for the option of customers “electing” board members as opposed to appointments from elected officials.
Gnaw Bone RSD – Future? Per Pittman, future management of the RSD is up in the air – sell it, remain an independent board, let the BCRSD manage it? Gnaw Bone has two packaged Sewer Plants – one is 24 years old and the other is 14.
Costs per Customer. To keep costs down (60.00 a month) Gnaw Bone RSD board members were a “working” board where members performed maintenance and responded to calls. This made it nearly impossible to recruit new board members and could not be sustained. Customers owe these board members their thanks and gratitude.
Helmsburg RSD. The cost is 92.50 a month. Helmsburgs RSD board members are appointed by commissioners/council and have received funding to build a new plant to replace their aging plant. They contract for maintenance. Helmsburg developed its own economic plan that identifies what the community wants and does not want in terms of development and quality of life. They also created their own 501c3 – Community Development Corporation. More info: Helmsburg Revitalization – Community Led.
Music Center – Disposition – Options.
Barry Herring and Derek Clifford were re-appointed to the Convention Visitors Commission (CVC). The CVC develops the budget for how revenue from the innkeeper’s tax can be spent. Typically, the Convention Visitors Bureau (CVB) is given most of the money but other non-profits can receive funding if they support tourism. The County Council reviews and approves the CVC budget.
Ron Sanders is advocating for public meetings to discuss the idea of selling the venue. Barry Herring expressed his opinion that it might be hard to sell, the venue is performing as promised, and excess revenue is being returned to the county. I support public meetings and allowing citizens to express their opinions as to the options. These meetings also provided the opportunity for fact-gathering. Pittman offered his comments – keep as-is for now (status quo). Pittman is on the Music Venue Management group but attends very few meetings.
Authority – Elected Officials. The council and commissioners (elected officials) had to approve building the music center. I have seen no documented opinion from the county’s legal counsel that they cannot also vote to sell. Further, I have seen no documented legal opinion that non-elected officials have the power to determine the distribution of excess revenues. Further, I have seen no documented legal opinion that elected officials can delegate their responsibility for decisions regarding this venue to unelected officials. The local Republican Party has always been a vocal advocate and supporter of this venue -and supports the hands-off policy taken by our elected officials. Ron Sanders is the exception – he was not the preferred candidate of the local Party.
Options for the Music Center – include:
(1) Sell it. The premise is that the County Government should not be in the music business. Sell it at a profit, collect the property tax, and use the money to fund needed capital improvements. This “government-owned and operated music venue” will always be opposed by those expecting a limited role from the government.
(2) Status quo – continue to allow non-elected officials with business acumen, to manage the venue and decide how best to determine and then distribute excess revenue. A proposed change for distribution is 50% instead of 75% of the excess revenue be given to the Community Foundation and the remainder to the county.
(3) Win/Win? Voters and Elected officials take responsibility with input from the non-elected officials. 100% of excess revenue is returned to the county and can be used for infrastructure needs such as capital improvements. Elected officials can document their intent for the funds via a Resolution. If capital improvements are a priority, funds can be used to reduce/eliminate the need for the county to borrow money where loans are repaid through a property tax increase. In other words, the excess revenue can support a property tax decrease.
By law, the County Council reviews and approves how revenue from the innkeepers’ tax will be spent. Their decision can also determine how much excess revenue can be returned to the county.
Board Appointments. I was re-appointed to the Redevelopment Commission last year (unanimous vote by Sanders, Pittman, and Braden). I was “not” re-appointed this year. Sanders votes Yes and Pittman and Wolpert No. Jerry Pittman said the decision was not and would never be “political” – good to know 😊
I was working on a follow-up project to analyze our property tax base to determine trends and provide baseline data. We have about 15 years of data. Newer technologies make it easier to collect and analyze the data. The idea for the project started when I was appointed to the RDC in 2016 and 2017.
Before being appointed, I developed an assessment of the sustainability of the county’s economic base using indicators developed by the state called Community Vitality Indicators (CVI). This led to the need to get more information on leading indicators of economic health. The goal of the RDC Project was to develop a financial decision support model. This would allow projections on revenues, expenses, and tax rates, to better anticipate potential deficits and allow time for corrective action needed to avoid problems.
This information would have helped prevent last year’s budget debacle. I worked with IU/SPEAs Graduate program and supported two student-led projects. The third project would have included gathering income and property tax data.
I was not re-appointed to the RDC in 2018 (I challenged the fast-track process being used to approve the music center project). I think 2017 was the last year the RDC published the required annual report. More information is provided in the link.
If interested:
Independent Voters of Brown County IN 