Clark County Council: Salem-Noble, Ind. 62 traffic light one vote shy

Clark County

Discussion

August 11, 2009

3-2 vote comes with two members absent

BY BRADEN LAMMERS The News and Tribune Tue Aug 11, 2009, 01:46 PM EDT

The approval of $185,000 requested to put up traffic lights at Ind. 62 and Salem-Noble Road has been delayed, as the Clark County Council did not have enough votes Monday to approve use of money from the county’s rainy day fund.

While the council members said they all support of the project, the vote to allocate the money was 3-2, with council President David Abbott and Jack Coffman voting against.

The council requires a four-person majority on a vote. Council members Chuck Moore and Jackie Dickman were not in attendance.

“It’s not a majority of people in attendance; it still has to be a majority vote of the full membership, so it would need four votes [to use the money],” said Scott Lewis, county council attorney.

The project was approved by county commissioners, which voted to provide part of a 20 percent match in funding. The rest of the funding is expected to come from the city of Jeffersonville — $185,000 — and River Ridge Development Authority — $369,000.

“We won’t draw on [the fund] until the bidding process,” said Commissioner Ed Meyer. “In fact, if Jeff city does not approve their $185,000, we won’t have to do our $185,000.”

Council members debated where the funding would come from, not if the council was willing to allocate it.

Meyer, along with commissioner Mike Moore, asked the council to fund Salem-Noble out of the rainy day fund — a reserve fund for the county.

“Because of the restrictions and the timing that’s being put on the rainy day fund, we’ve got this $185,000 here, we’ve got a bill sitting here from LifeSpring for $161,000, where’s that money going to come from?” Coffman asked.

The LifeSpring bill is expected to be presented to the council at its next meeting for mental health services and evaluations provided to county inmates.

The county council questioned whether or not the commissioners could pay for the project out of its own reserve fund, called the cumulative-capital fund.

Moore said when he had gone to the council two months earlier, it agreed to pay for the project out of the rainy day fund.

The debate securing where the money would come from was not the only dispute that occurred.

Moore and Meyer started their own debate, arguing whether or not the funding for the Star Hill Road project — previously cut in half to pay for highway repair bills out of a nonreverting fund— needed to be in place to begin construction.

Moore said the money needed to be in place — a 20 percent match — to begin the construction.

Meyer said the cash remaining in the nonreverting fund — $450,000 — would pay for phase one and two of the Star Hill Road project.

The money was brought up because of the need to pay for the additional projects that have been approved by the commissioners and would need to come out of another one of its funds.

“All of these projects that we work on work much quicker when the state or the federal [government] see the money dedicated,” Moore said. “When they see money, they know you’re serious.”

In other business

• Judge Dan Moore was at the council meeting to ask for supplies and contract services for Circuit Court probation officers. Contract services include drug testing for those on probation. The approval for supplies includes purchasing a bulletproof vest and allowing the probation officers to carry weapons. The protective equipment is for visits the probation officers make to the homes of former offenders. The funding — $10,000 — was unanimously approved.

• Approval was given to Steve Stewart, Clark County prosecutor, to transfer funds from “other services” account to “personal services” account to pay for transcripts and depositions. The budget has already been depleted because of the volume of transcripts and depositions that have been needed by the prosecutor’s office.

• Bids for building projects at the Clark County Government Building for heating, air-conditioning, a new roof and other improvements are hoped to be out by September and back in by October. Renovations include sprinkler systems or fire-rated walls required by the state to bring the building up to code. The budget for the renovations is $6 million.

• Clark Memorial Hospital will take its bond agreement with the county — already approved by the council and commissioners — to the Indiana State Bond Bank for final approval Aug. 27.