Commissioner Meeting Notes, Jan 22, 2025

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Agenda: 2025_01_22 Agenda Commissioner Meeting 

Agenda item – Feb 5, 2025 Meeting.  Discussion Only- Unmaintained County Roads.

    • Disposition of Combs Road. Discussion to include abandonment and permanent closure. 
    • Habitat for Humanity – request concerning another unmaintained county road.
    • Other – general discussion – unmaintained county roads.

Vacancies – Boards and Commissioner. Will be advertised in the Democrat, social media, and in the lobby of the county office building.

Background information – Voting Centers

Voting Centers

We are transitioning from Zoom to Microsoft Teams:  https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/16f3b77b-c4c0-4996-aed9-7ca29a9589fd@04fee575-6886-4640-9bb0-390a11d729e7

County Council Special Meeting Notes, Jan 9, 2025. New financial advisor, Election for Council President.

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rock em sock em robots

County Council Special Meeting Notes, Jan 9, 2025. New financial advisor, Election for Council President.  

Note: Commissioners are the executives of the county and are responsible for vision and policy. The Council is in charge of the money.

“And in this corner:”  Do we need a Patton (Kemp) or an Eisenhower (Huett), the Marines (Kemp) or the local community organizer (Huett)?

An interesting meeting with a few fireworks and a smart bomb or two that may be boiled down to the campaign for the election of the next Council President and the financial viability of the county. 

The next Council Meeting is Jan 21, 2025 at 5:30.  Should be pretty interesting. Tickets are still available (satire).

The play-by-play 
This post at Brown County Matters

New Financial Advisor.

The council contracted with Reedy Financial Group, which can provide additional support to help identify the systemic improvements needed for the county to better manage our finances and budget.  Kemp led this initiative.  I participated in the interviews and am confident the commissioners can get the help we need to include managing capital improvements and better management reports. 

The county is going through a major financial transformation. Over at least the past 10-15 years, the budget was developed with a one-year perspective. It is pretty easy to submit a balanced budget with the state: Overestimate revenues, underestimate expenses, and jump through hoops over the next year to cover needed and unplanned expenses. These could average anywhere from 400-600K per year. Over the last few years, the Rainy Day fund was reduced from around 2.5 million to as low as 70K, and money was drawn from other funds as well. This situation contributed to reducing the county’s credit rating, 

As a result of COVID-19, the county received an influx of federal dollars that masked, if not exacerbated, our financial challenges.

Kemp led the charge to develop and get agreement on the following goals:

  1. Maintain 15% cash reserve balances 
  2. Annual expenses not to exceed 90% of revenues
  3. Highway and Health Departments are required to operate within their own budgets 
  4. Rainy day fund balance of $2.5 million 
  5. Health fund 4700 with a reserve balance of $1 million 

Capital Improvement.  County elected leadership (council and commissioners) have refused in the past to develop a capital improvement plan for needed repairs and replacements.  Commissioner Sanders started work on developing this plan, starting with identifying the property that we are insuring.

PLAN, WHAT PLAN? A five-year comprehensive “financial plan” was developed a few years ago  (by the commissioner’s office) at the cost of 30K that sat on a shelf and, after one or two annual updates, was abandoned. I never heard it discussed at a council or commissioner meeting.

CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?  The county routinely borrows money (3 million last time, 4 million last year) to cover capital improvement expenses. The debt is funded through higher property taxes, and since the tax rate remains relatively the same (referred to as tax neutral), taxpayers do not notice any changes.

POWER Corrupts. We have a one-party monopoly on political power, and the lack of competition contributed to the election of a few candidates who did not have the passion, interest, time, or insight to understand what was going on. The centralized power in the hands of the few influences who can run for office, get selected for boards and commissions, and even get a county government job. Those who go along to get along can have jobs for life and avoid being shunned or blackballed.   

ELECTION – COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Jim Kemp started his term on council in 2022 and has a financial background. He may be one of the few elected officials who understand the concept of modified accruals.  The county government operates on a cash (fund) accounting vs. accrual basis. Accrual basis accounting is the common method in the private sector. Modified accruals support identifying the expected expenses in the following years.

For instance, assume you have a 5-year, 500,000 contract that is payable at 100,00 a year. The budget will only show the one-year liability – not that you still have another 400K to go.

GOALS. Kemp actually identified specific financial goals in his campaign strategy. I am not aware that another councilman has ever identified a “DOCUMENTED strategy but some can talk it to death.  Anecdotes and hyperbole are the strategies chosen by a few. If you are a preferred candidate of the local GOP, you get elected without breaking a sweat or being held accountable for results.

The exception to this situation would include Commissioner Ron Sanders and myself. We are definitely not on the preferred candidates list.

Kemp also developed a financial strategy for the county; No one questions his commitment, competence, and passion for getting us on solid financial ground. But we all have our downsides, and sometimes his passion can come across as anger to some. And he does tend to use more words than may be needed to make a point.  If his comments were recorded and transcribed, we would have a few pretty good books on the strengths and weaknesses of our culture and our financial system and challenges.

Kemp and Huett pointed out each other’s respective strengths and weaknesses.  Huett considers himself as a ‘facilitator.”  He likes working quietly behind the scenes. Huett provided support (the 4th commissioner) to the commissioner’s office which did not include the participation of Commissioner Sanders. Huett was involved in the staffing changes in the commissioner’s office, highway department personnel changes, recruiting and contracting for a construction manager (owners rep), the initiation of the county comprehensive plan, and liaising with the various interest groups in the county, such as the Brown County Community Foundation. The BCCF has opted to get more involved in local politics. Kemp reinforced that these are more liaison functions and not the primary responsibility of the Council President.

These liaison activities by Huett contributed to a situation where a 2025 budget was submitted to the state before the county council voted to approve it. The lack of attention to the job also led to non-compliance with previous policies regarding the process for reviewing the timely review of the budget.

Even more concerning, end-of-year appropriations were not passed by the end of the year, which leads to the reporting of account deficits that will be an audit finding that will reflect badly on the auditor. The auditor, repeatedly called out the council for not making timely decisions that caused chaos with the financial reporting and took time away from addressing more critical needs within the office.

The Council will have a choice to make on the direction of the county in 2025. It should be a good meeting – Jan 21, 2024, 5:30-7:30.

“Vibe Shift”

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“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” – George Washington.
 
 
“The vibe shift is, in essence, escalation versus de-escalation. Trump made that perfectly clear when he recently posted:”

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East,” [Trump wrote]  on December 2. “But it’s all talk, and no action! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
 
The U.S. military plans a ‘Hellscape’ to deter China from attacking Taiwan
But a top U.S. military commander for Asia says time is running out to put the plan in place.

‘In God We Trust’ Returns to US Classrooms; Bible in Curriculum

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Billy Graham: America at the Crossroads, by Billy Graham | September 21, 2020 | Billy Graham

    • As in the last days of Rome, Christianity to many people today has faded into mere form, lost its relevance to life and holds no central allegiance in our lives. When a nation loses its faith, it loses its character. When it loses its character, it loses its purpose for living. And when it loses its purpose for living, it loses its will to survive.
    • I am convinced that America stands at the crossroads of her national destiny. One road leads to destruction, and the other leads to prosperity and security. Most are going down the broad road that leads to destruction. We are going the way of Rome rather than the way of the cross.
    • Many will blame the Republicans or the Democrats. But it is the American people as individuals that should take the blame. We backslide as individuals before we begin to decay as a nation.

Dec 31, 2024, CBN.  ‘In God We Trust’ Returns to US Classrooms, Here’s How It Became Our Official Motto, Benjamin Gill

    • Over the past few years, a movement has sprung up to remind Americans of our national motto in a variety of settings from public school buildings to law enforcement vehicles.

    • One of the latest examples this year was in West Virginia where the legislature voted to require state schools to display “In God We Trust.” 

    • When asked if the move was constitutional, state Del. Tom Fast told West Virginia Watch, “This is our national motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ and it has been litigated, and it has been upheld. We can display our national motto in public schools and in our higher education institutions.

    • The move in West Virginia came after Louisiana passed a law last year that requires the U.S. national motto to be displayed in every public school classroom. Other states that have adopted similar policies in recent years include Texas and South Dakota.

June 27, 2024. “Oklahoma state superintendent announces all schools must incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments in curriculums, By Alaa Elassar, CNN

    • All Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments in their curriculums, effective immediately, the state’s chief education officer announced in a memorandum Thursday.

    • At a State Board of Education meeting, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said the Bible is “one of the most foundational documents used for the Constitution and the birth of our country.”

    • “It’s crystal clear to us that in the Oklahoma academic standards under Title 70 on multiple occasions, the Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system,” Walters said.

    • Every classroom in the state from grades 5 through 12 must have a Bible and all teachers must teach from the Bible in the classroom, Walters said.

County Council Special Meeting Notes, Dec 30, 2024, A Way Ahead

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This post at Brown County Matters.

    • Agenda: Digital billing system, pay grade changes, additional appropriations (briefed two times previously), Salaray ordinance, and contract with a new financial advisor.
    • Audio – link below). I encourage you to listen to the Audio of the meeting and just take a few notes to capture your questions and concerns. This will be a good meeting to review in a year to assess our progress in making the needed systemic changes within the council and commissioner’s office relative to finance and budgeting.
    • Council Leadership. Councilman Kemp has a financial background and began his service with the council in 2023. He has spent the time needed digging into the numbers, working to understand the system, and sharing what he has been learning. A way ahead includes focusing on goals that involve maintaining $2.5 million in the rain day fund and $1 million in the health insurance reserve fund, keeping expenses at least 15% under projected revenues, and providing quarterly and annual budget updates.
    • Commissioners Office. The commissioner’s office can develop the needed management reports and internal controls to increase the visibility of risks associated with contracts, leases, and capital improvements. The status can be included on meeting agendas. The goal would be to improve financial sustainability and prevent financial surprises. Consultants have identified it may take us 10 years to work our way out of the financial mess. We should have a better idea of the depth of the challenge within a year to 18 months.
    • As a new commissioner, I plan on continuing to share what I am learning on social media to include “Matters” that may be incorporated into E-books. In a self-governing Constitutional Republic, “We the People” can hold our elected officials accountable, but we retain the responsibility for results. Better outcomes are achieved through improvement in processes, systems, and citizen participation. The improvement concepts and methods included within the Brown County Leader Network can be re-introduced to encourage more citizens to help improve quality within our government and community.
    • Challenges. I am not underestimating the challenges. Making the needed improvements to the status quo is typically resisted by those with a personal or political interest in maintaining that status quo. Transparency and communication can help address this challenge. It is a proven fact that successfully improving quality results in outcomes where everyone benefits or at least, is not any worse off in the long term. Everyone wins with optimization.

AUDIO of the Meeting

County Council special meeting set Monday 

Budget Guidance Salary Changes – Salary changes must be submitted prior to June 15

Agenda Items

Meeting Clarification – Three Types: (Requires 48 hours (business days) public notification

    • Regular Meeting  – provides the most flexibility for decision-making
    • Special Meeting (working session). Any actions resulting in a decision must be advertised in advance
    • Executive Session. Agenda items dictated by statute

2025 Budget.  The County Council failed to vote to review and approve.  Estimated budget deficit is around 600K.

The Council failed to approve salary ordinance changes in 2024. Council to approve  The 2025 Salary Ordinance will be approved in Jan. 

Salary, pay scales, staffing.  Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele (WIS) & Associates were contracted to re-structure and standardize salary schedules.  In the interim, Departments (Health Department, Prosecutor, Clerk, Treasurer) are/have been receiving approval for salaries and staffing changes. 

Financial Advisor. Council has the responsibility to contract for a financial advisor and plan on contracting with Reedy Financial Services – Government Finance Specialists at $175.00 per billable hour.

Digital Billing System. Was rejected – does not interface with the current accounting system.

Deficits. In 2024, the county was projecting about a 1.4 million deficit. Fortunately, about 2.3 million were found. County ended up 10K in the black.   

Deficits. In 2025, estimated at around 600K.

End of year Transfers.  Commissioner’s office identified the need to transfer approximately 700k to pay the required bills. This was briefed to the council on two prior occasions.  Without a transfer, the county will show account deficits in 2025. Council voted to approve with one member voting No. A second reading (vote to approve) will be on Jan 9.

council special mtg agenda items 2024 12 30

“…there is actually no such thing as atheism”

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This is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio), The Free Press

I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.

Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship–be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles–is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious. They are default settings. 

How Intellectuals Found God – by Peter Savodnik

 

 

Commissioner Meeting Notes, Dec 27, 2024, 2-4 pm

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This post at Brown  County Matters

Dec 23, 2024. Commissioners set special meeting Friday, By Dave Stafford -December 23, 2024

AUDIO of the meeting

12 27 2024 Agenda Commissioners

Claims. End-of-year claims and transfers totaled over 10 million. Commissioner Wolpert remarked that the counyy has issues paying timely. Note I will be providing more information on finance, accounting, and budgeting-related issues over the next year.  

Board Appointments. It was acknowledged that since 2018, appointments to boards and commissioners were made by the newly elected commissioners in January. Despite this precedent, outgoing commissioners Pittman and Wolpert appointed two people to the Convention Visitors Commission (CVC) and one to the Redevelopment Commission. The new commissioners can rescind the appointment to the RDC, but the individuals appointed to the CVC must be asked to submit their resignations if there are other candidates to be considered.   

Unlike the Council, the commissioner appointments were not published in the Democrat. Consequently, fewer people applied. 

It is expected that some appointments will be made at the Commissioner meeting scheduled for Jan 8, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

2025_12_27 appointments

New Ordinance Appointments. Commissioner can appprove an ordinance documenting the precedent that appointments be made in January. And an ordinance can always be repealed.

DLZ Contract for Jail. The Jail air conditioning units will be replaced at a cost of around 700-1 million. The commissioners signed a contract with DLZ to manage the project. The previous commissioners, at the request of councilman Gary Huett, also signed a contract with individuals designated as an “Owners Representative.” The justification was that such a person could save the county costs on managing projects. In this case, DLZ was hired to provide the technical management services.

Meeting Calendar for 2025. No change on meeting schedules – the first Wed at 2:00 and the 3rd Wed at 6:00. The new commissioners may opt to have both meetings at 6:00 to allow more people to participate. This may add additional labor costs for county employees that are required to attend including personnel from IT and the Auditor’s Office.

Dec 25, 2024.  2025 County Council Appointments

Dec 18, 2024. County Council Appointments 

    • Alcoholic Beverage Board (one-year term)
    • Property Tax Board of Appeals (one-year term)
    • Brown County Redevelopment Commission (two positions, one-year term)
    • Brown County Regional Sewer District (four-year term)

Final Statements – Commissioners Pittman and Wolpert expressed their final words regarding their service to the county. Jerry Pittman was first elected to the Council in 2011 and served two terms as commissioner. Wolpert was voted out of office as commissioner in 2008. He was appointed (7 of 11 precinct committee votes) in 2023 to fill a vacancy left by Chuck Braden.   

Combs Road – Proposed Re-Opening – Forest Service Response – For the Record

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Combs Road is an unmaintained county road. Gates at both ends of the road prevent vehicular traffic.

Dec 18, 2024. Commissioner Meeting – Agenda – Discussion – Re-Opening Combs Road

Dec 18. 2024. Commissioners leave Combs Road closed after residents object by Dave Stafford.This Post at Brown Couty Matters (1.3K+) views

Oct 18, “2004.”  Ordinance for temporary closure of unmaintained parts of Combs Road

Dec 17, 2024.  IndyStar. Brown County plan to reopen road threatens wilderness, advocates say
by  Karl Schneider

Dec 16, 2024. Email – Mike Chaveas, US Forest Service

EMAIL: From: Chaveas, Michael – FS, IN
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2024 3:57 PM
To: pittmanj@browncounty-in.us; wolpertb@browncounty-in.us; SandersR@browncounty-in.us
Subject: Combs Road and Hoosier National Forest

Commissioners Pittman, Wolpert and Sanders;

I am writing regarding your consideration of reopening the Brown County section of Combs Road to allow OHV (off-highway vehicle) use. I briefly spoke with Commissioner Wolpert on the phone two weeks ago, which was when I initially was made aware that this action was being considered, and we have received numerous calls from members of the public to our offices on this topic recently. I have since had the opportunity to look into the history of this road and its surroundings. I understand that Combs road is a county road and it is therefore within the authority of the Brown County government to make any decisions about reopening it to motorized traffic. In order to assist you in making an informed decision, I wanted to provide some history of damage done in this area and share concerns we would have with any change in status.

According to our files, Brown County Board of Commissioners passed an Ordinance for temporary closure of unmaintained parts of Combs Road (10-18-04-01) on October 18, 2004, which implemented a closure to vehicular traffic (see attached). The ordinance states that the Forest Service favored closing the road “to prevent misuse, damage to and pollution of forest property, and injury and property damage to those who might otherwise use the roads, and the Board of Commissioners finds that closing the above-stated roads is in the public interest and economic interest of the county”.

This section of Combs Road and its surroundings had a long history of OHV use leading to a “braided trail” with many off-shoots, mud pits, etc. As a result, the adjacent Hoosier National Forest property was severely damaged, and the water quality of local streams, and likely Monroe Lake, were negatively affected. I am attaching some photos here that were taken in that era to give you a sense of the damage that had been done.

Our records also indicate that in 2005 the Forest Service conducted major rehabilitation of Combs Road including reshaping and installing culverts and ditches to reduce erosion and improve water quality. These measures, along with the concurrent closure to vehicles, has allowed the area to reestablish protective vegetation, thus reducing its negative impacts to water quality and wildlife habitat. We have concerns that reversing the road closure would lead to new damage, as was experienced previously.

Current policy and the Hoosier National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan does not allow for OHV use on the national forest. Due to the extensive past use and damage to the road, and the illegal crossings onto adjacent national forest property, we cannot be certain of where the land ownership boundaries currently lie, and therefore where the legal route of this road is in all parts. A professional survey would be necessary prior to motorized vehicle use, and any associated road maintenance, if it were to be once again allowed and authorized by the county to ensure the avoidance of any damage to the national forest lands.

I appreciate your attention to these details as you make your decisions regarding this county road.

Mike Chaveas
Forest Supervisor
Forest Service
Hoosier National Forest
 facebook.com/HoosierNF

Caring for the land and serving people

Photos

County Council Meeting Notes, Dec 16, 2024 – Financial Situation, New Revenue

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Agenda County Council December 16, 2024  (Also below)

    • Addition to the agenda: Health Department request/discussion on personnel staffing changes and salary adjustments

AUDIO of the Meeting

    • 00:21:30 Jim Kemp – Status of County Finances. Case for Change
    • 00:34:30 Scott Rudd. New Sources of Revenue, Priorities, Pros and Cons.

FYI: The 8 Steps for Leading Change

 Finance and Budgets.  In the State government, this is a budget year, and the budget is developed for two years.  There are indications that the new governor will be working to reduce property taxes, thus reducing revenue to the county. To make up for a shortfall, the state may be allowing counties to increase taxes to make up the deficit.  Brown County is maxed out on raising income taxes and is constrained in raising property taxes due to the caps – 1% on residential and 2% on commercial.

County Financial Outlook — 2025-2026. Not looking good. Councilman Kemp projects that given the current assessment of revenues and expenses, we may have around a $700-800K budget deficit in 2025 and 2026 respectively.  This does not factor in unanticipated expenses related to health insurance and unexpected capital improvement repairs and replacements.  In a near worst-case scenario,  deficits would have to be covered by reducing employees and benefits.  A higher deficit was projected last year and a crisis averted when new revenue was discovered. 

New Sources of Revenue

    • PERF (Retirement System). The county contributes matching funds to the employee pension system, but when an employee leaves before being vested, the state retains the money.  How much of this money can the county get back?
    • State Park Gate Fee. This may be the first time in 20+ years that the county’s request for a gate fee at the State park may be approved. This could range from 50 cents to a dollar, which may bring in $200-350K a year.  This would not apply to those with an annual pass.
    • Innkeepers tax. The legislature can allow the county to raise the innkeepers’ tax from 5 to 8 percent. If so, it is then up to the county to accept or reject the increase.  The council voted to support this option.  An increase could bring in 700-750K a year.  The priority would be public safety.
    • The purpose of the innkeepers tax is to help promote tourism BUT counties have the option for how best to determine how the money can be spent.   In our case, this would be defined in Chapter 14, Brown County Innkeepers Tax (IC 6-9-14-1).
    • The soonest the county could receive additional funds would be Jan 2026 or July 1, 2025 if the county’s request was approved.
    • BCMC – Distribution – Excess Revenue.  Although not mentioned at the council meeting, Commissioners have the responsibility to determine the distribution of excess revenue from the Music Center. The current distribution is 75% to the Foundation and 25% to the county. The “Council” also influences the amount of excess revenue that may be available. The council reviews and approves the budget for how the revenue from the innkeepers’ tax can be budgeted. 

Economic Development District (EDD).  The county has the option to join with Monroe and Owen County to develop an EDD.  This would provide the opportunity to apply for federal grants.  This should make for some interesting conversations.  Topic to be discussed at the next council working session.

Agenda County Council Dec 16 2024