DEKALB COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING March 12, Vice President Randall Deetz Member Jacqueline Rowan. Auditor Jan Bauman

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1 DEKALB COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING March 12, 2018 Commissioners Present: Others Present: President Donald D Grogg Vice President Randall Deetz Member Jacqueline Rowan Attorney James P McCanna Auditor Jan Bauman MATTER OF PAYROLL Jacqueline Rowan motioned to approve payroll for the period February 20-March 5, 2018 as written. Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. MATTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES An after-hours protocol is now in place with DeKalb Health for employees who have Workers Compensation claims beyond the scope of DeKalb Business Health s business hours, which are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is also a protocol with Parkview Health for processing Workers Compensation employees if DeKalb Health sends them to Parkview. IPEP will have its 2018 Annual Safety Seminar in Auburn on October 16 from 8:00-12:30 at the Auction Park exhibit hall. Payroll has a practice allowing those on FMLA to take some vacation and sick time every pay period to cover the cost of their deductions. The Commissioners would like this practice to be solidified and require employees to sign on off on it prior to their leave so they fully understand and consent to this practice. The person who was hired for the part time position at Sunny Meadows did not show up for their first day, so that position is still open. Sunny Meadows director is interested in having the residents help with the Community Garden. MATTER OF PERSON S INTEREST IN PURCHASING COUNTY OWNED LAND Randy Sebert is interested in purchasing a piece of ground in Butler. He explained to the Commissioners that his grandfather paid $1 per year to use the barn that is on the property. They have put a roof and new siding on the barn at no cost to the County. Jim McCanna said the Commissioners can sell it. The attorney doesn t know if two appraisals need to be done, or whether there are other stipulations. He needs to research the legalities involved. No action was taken. MATTER OF DEKALB HUMANE SOCIETY Dave Houser, board member of DeKalb Humane Society, wanted to speak to the Commissioners about the Humane Society in light of recent negative letters to the editor. Mr. Houser lives at 911 Lakeview Drive, Auburn. The Humane Society will have some fundraisers in 2018, including the City Steakhouse with its grand opening, and as the beneficiary of donations March 20 th and August 16 th. Tails Bookstore on 6 th Street is a good money maker.

2 The by-laws have been changed. In the past, the by-laws required a board of 9 serving 2 terms maximum. Since 2013, there have been 23 board members. The other shelters in the quad -county area appoint their own board members. Going into 2018, it is important that there be stability with the board. Three-year terms will be instituted. There are no longer memberships, but rather sponsorships, and that has been very successful. The Society is looking into building a new building. They are working with the James Foundation to build in Auburn since it is central and more visible. Where they are currently, the building was built by and belongs to the shelter, and the land belongs to the County. Commissioners Deetz said the County has the responsibility to take care of stray animals. It is more cost-effective to allow the use of the land and to contribute an annual allocation than to take on and run the entire program itself. The shelter had $329,000 in revenue in The County s $49,000 represents approximately 15% of the shelters revenue. Mr. Houser continued by saying there has been a personnel change new director Kelly Ross. She has worked there 12 years. There were hard feelings with the former director, and her friends took grievances to social media and to the newspaper. The shelter was run very efficiently in 2017 with cost savings, large donors, and being run like a business. There is an association of all the shelters in the area. They meet to discuss how each operates its shelter so efficiencies can be found. The majority of the dogs at the shelter are pit bulls. There is the possibility that puppies such as poodles or other popular breeds that are in a kill shelter elsewhere could be brought to the DeKalb County shelter. There is a need for out of county animals. Commissioners Deetz asked what the testing procedure is for animal regarding these animals that are brought from out of the county. Mr. Houser said records of medications is provided. If there is an over-population in other area shelters, and DeKalb is under-populated, animals are brought to DeKalb, and Mr. Houser thinks the medical records follow the animals. Mr. Deetz would like for the Humane Society to provide the Commissioners with their testing protocol when they have one. Mr. Houser assured the Commissioners the shelter is not going to run a puppy mill. If there is a need for the type of animal the DeKalb shelter has, then it would be transferred out. Otherwise the dogs are kept. Specific dogs would be brought in for specific people. Commissioner Deetz explained that he has a concern that in the past animals such as horses have not been taken care of. He has heard about complaints that do not receive follow-up. Who does the investigation? Mr. Houser believes the Sheriff s Department or Police Department that would do the investigating. The shelter is not associated with any rescue groups at this time because revenue is lost. Commissioner Deetz also asked why an individual would be potentially turned down to adopt an animal. Mr. Houser s response was that the requirements in DeKalb had been very strict compare to other area shelters. He hopes that has been corrected going forward. The contract with the County was last renewed in Mr. Houser will provide the most recent contract. The Commissioners would like to have the contract updated as needed and renewed. Membership with the ASPCA has been discussed, but it has not happened yet, and it has not been decided. If the shelter does become a member of the ASPCA, it could receive dogs delivered to the shelter free of charge, and then the shelter would find a home for it.

3 MATTER OF CLAIMS Jacqueline Rowan motioned to approve Special Claims for the week of February 8, 2018 and General Claims consisting of warrant # through in the amount of $383, and wire transfer #8672 through 8733 in the amount of $151, Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. MATTER OF TRAVEL Jacqueline Rowan made a motion to approve the following travel requests: 1) Kate Cullum and Ryan Hull (Probation) to travel to Indianapolis on March 20 for the IRAS Recertification Training. Estimated cost of $ to be paid from department travel. 2) Ben Parker, Diane Shockney, and Zach Dohner (Highway) to travel to Marion on March 14 for training on the Highway s annual financial report. No costs are being claimed. 3) Mark Pomeroy (Probation) to travel to Indianapolis on April 23 for Indiana Risk Assessment recertification. Estimated cost of $ to be paid from department travel. Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. MATTER OF CHANGE IN POLLING PLACE FROM YOUTH FOR CHRIST BUILDING Jacqueline Rowan motioned to approve precincts Union 6 & Union 8 being changed from the Youth for Christ Center to the Steininger Center Foundation building. Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. MATTER OF AD FOR BIDS, NEW JAIL, COURTHOUSE SECURITY, AND WEAPONS The Commissioners spoke to Sheriff Lauer and Jeff Bickel about needing to formally bid the security system and roof projects. They will work with Attorney McCanna to put together the legal ad. They must be bid because the cost of each project is expected to be at least $150,000 Sheriff Lauer asked if the Commissioners had an idea of when a new jail might be built. This is to help him decide how long of warranties he should purchase for the roof and security system. Commissioners Deetz said IF and when a jail is ready to be built, it will have to go through a referendum due to the size of the project. Council would like for a referendum to occur during a presidential year. It would not happen until at least 2024 if they feel a new jail is needed. So, it would be safe to request a 20-year warranty on the items that are being bid. Sheriff Lauer sought direction as to when to begin hiring for courthouse security. Commissioner Deetz said a lockdown won t happen in the immediate future. The Sheriff may hire security personnel he was given in his 2018 budget to start patrolling the three County buildings. Another question of Sheriff Lauer was if there had been any thought about a No weapons in the courthouse ordinance. Attorney McCanna explained that may be created if the Commissioners so choose for the courthouse since court rooms are located here. An ordinance cannot be created due to statute for the annex building, the 220 building, and the Highway since the courts are not located there. MATTER OF FIRST AID KIT MAINTENANCE FOR COURTHOUSE Jacqueline Rowan motioned that the Commissioners inform the Safety Committee to use Cintas to update the Courthouse first aid kits. Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. The Highway will keep Cintas, and the Sheriff s Department will continue to use Wildman.

4 MATTER OF ZONING CHANGE FOR AUBURN CITY STEAKHOUSE Jacqueline made a motion to instruct Jim McCanna to write a letter to the Auburn Zoning Appeals in support of the zoning change for the restaurant being built on Main Street. Randall Deetz seconded, and all approved. MATTER OF HIGHWAY Ben Parker is working with David Armstrong to set up the early coordination meeting for the federal grant for County Road 56. There is significant flooding on County Road 14 just east of County Road 19. It has been closed for three weeks. The road is getting damaged. Should a tile be extended up to that area? The Commissioners will need to talk about the situation. Commissioner Deetz may not be able to vote on it if it involves money since his land runs into that particular tile. A property owner ran their sump pump and down spouts into a 4 tile that is not holding the water. It is coming out through drains into the catch basin, and the basin can t hold all of the water. The extra water is frustrating the land owner whose land it is flowing onto. That landowner wanted the catch basin lowered, the tiles lowered, and the ruts filled. The Highway did all those things for him. The water continues to minimally cross his field, but the owner of the field is still upset. The Commissioners think that it would be ok for the Highway to install rip rap, which is the farmer s current request. The property owner at 6242 County Road 36 was burning off his ditch and burned through the culvert. Mr. Parker had to close the road due to the damage caused to the road. The property owner apologized and is expecting a bill. MATTER OF OVERTIME CALCULATIONS FOR CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS After researching the information regarding overtime and our office speaking with representatives from the Department of Labor, and also finally making the determination that Central Communications is not law enforcement in the eyes of the Department of Labor, Auditor Bauman says she is obligated to change the method by which overtime is calculated for Central Communications. Beginning with the next pay period (checks dated March 29, 2018), overtime will be calculated for any hours worked over 40 hours in a given week. Sick, vacation, holidays (unless worked), and P/L days are not included toward the 40 hours for overtime purposes. MATTER OF PERSONAL LEAVE DAYS FOR SHERIFF, CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS The Sheriff s Department and Central Communications earn P/L days. The departments keep track of these earned days and turn them in to the payroll department. These P/L days are not in referred to in the employee handbook anywhere for Class II employees (nor Class I employees). Why are those two departments getting these extra days when the rest of the employees are not? Furthermore, there is no way for payroll to audit P/L days earned and taken since there is no formal policy. Payroll is trusting the departments to log them correctly. This is not good practice, however. Human error can be expected. Payroll should have a set policy by which to follow. There is a reason for these checks and balances. It is reasonable to conclude that the County has probably paid for ineligible P/L days throughout the years without knowing it.

5 The Auditor would like a formal policy be created by the Commissioners so her office can properly audit these days at payroll time. The Commissioners requested that she, Dotty Miller, payroll, and Jim McCanna work together to come up with a plan and bring it back to the Commissioners next week for their consideration. No action was taken. Donald D. Grogg Randall J. Deetz Jacqueline R. Rowan Attest: Jan Bauman, Auditor