By John Estridge
Franklin County Council wants to generate $1.1 million to purchase capital assets and not increase taxes.
The way council’s financial advisors, Reedy Financial Group, plans to make the seemingly impossible happen is to reestablish a bond that is set to go off the books and float it to pay for some of the needs of county offices.
However, council members may have to go back to the proverbial drawing board as the county may be looking at slightly less than a quarter of the available money to pay for the repair of the clock tower on the Franklin County Courthouse.
Gabe Gerth, senior accountant and municipal advisor for Reedy, talked to council members Tuesday night, June 23, about what it was decided to spend the money on and the timeline for making the bond issue a reality.
It was the first time all council members had been in the same room for a meeting since the state’s shutdown order in March. Four council members sat in their usual seats behind the council podium and with their nameplates in front of them. A second, smaller table was set up to the west of the main podium. There, auditor Karla Bauman and two council members, Glen Bischoff and Rebecca Oglesby, sat at that table. Councilman Dean McQueen was also supposed to be seated at the smaller table, but he was absent. Chief deputy auditor Derrike Kolb sat in the back of the large meeting room in the chair by the desk usually used by the auditor during county commissioners’ meetings.
About a dozen people, either with business before council or media covering the meeting, were scattered around the room, sitting in chairs with proper social distancing for each person. Whitewater Publications reporter Randy Teufel appeared to be the only person wearing a mask. A Zoom hookup allowed others to watch the proceedings from remote locations and partake in the meeting.
Council members talked about changing how the money will be spent due to the needs of the courthouse’s clock tower.
According to an article published in the June 3 Brookville Democrat/American, a person reported to officials the clock tower appears to be leaning.
FCC member Joe Gillespie, who held the county surveyor’s position for decades before retiring, said there appears to be water damage and subsequent rot undermining the clock tower. He and commission vice president Tom Linkel also said using a figure of $250,000 to fix the situation was too preliminary as there have not been any concrete estimates sought on fixing the problems. However, it will be expensive to fix the problem.
“We’ve not got a bid or a quote or anything like that,” Linkel said.
“It is going to be expensive,” Gillespie said.
Oglesby said it might not be repairable and something would need to be done to it, maybe remove it from the courthouse, instead of trying to fix it. She said it is leaning in a bad way, and she is concerned about a heavy wind taking it off the courthouse and endangering the public.
However, Gillespie was adamant about fixing the problem instead of removing the clock tower from the historic and picturesque courthouse.
“We’re going to repair the bell tower,” Gillespie said. “We’re not going to allow that to fall.”
As it now stands, the bulk of the money will go toward new equipment for the county highway department. The current list of capital projects chosen by a three-member county council committee consisting of: president Jeff Koch, vice president Oglesby and Scott McDonough, are as follows:
County highway
Grade all, $360,000; mini excavator, $100,000; single-axle dump truck, $140,000; tandem dump truck, $175,000; and addition to highway building, $100,000 for a total of $875,000.
Assessor
Copier, $5,000.
Area plan
Computers and software, $10,000.
Small animal control
Kennels, $9,000.
Park
Resurfacing internal roads, $22,000.
Auditor
Lights, $3,000.
IT
Auditor computer, auditor printer and auditor UPS, $5,160; assessor, server, $4,097; commissioners, six computers and eight wifis, $12,992; sheriff, phone system $35,900; for a total of $58,149.
Recorder
Equipment, $3,000.
Sheriff
Body armor, $5,000.
Commissioners
Roof repair — courthouse, $50,000.
EMA
Emergency operations center laptops/external monitors, $18,000; Basic vehicle, $32,000; 16-foot cargo trailer, $6,800; and supplies to stock trailer, $3,051 for a total of $59,851.
Grand total: $1.1 million.
Koch, Oglesby and McDonough met after the meeting and worked out a time to meet again and discuss how to work in the clock tower on the courthouse.
Gerth also gave council members hard copies of the schedule for what has to be done and when it has to be done to make the bond issue a reality.
- Monday, June 29 – Publish notice of determination and additional appropriation public hearing and post in three places within the county.
- Monday, July 6 – Publish notice of determination and additional appropriation public hearing and post in three places within the county.
- Wednesday, July 15 – File additional appropriation ordinance with Division of Local Government Finance.
- Tuesday, July 28 – County council conducts public hearing on additional appropriation and considers adoption of additional appropriation ordinance and bond ordinance.
- Wednesday, July 29 – Send notice of intent to sell bonds (first publication).
- Monday, Aug. 3 – Publish notice of intent to sell bonds (first publication).
- Monday, Aug. 10 – Publish notice of intent to sell bonds (second publication).
- Wednesday, Aug. 19 – Bond sale; bids received/awarded.
- Wednesday, Sept. 2 – Bond closing.
