02/21/13 Mike Miley from Gibson Insurance presented the property and causality policy renewal to the Commissioners on Monday. This increase is 3.9% or $16,000. Workman’s Comp. claims continue to be high for the county with the majority of them coming from the highway and sheriff’s departments. Miley said the creation of the County Safety Committee is making strides in reducing workman comp claims.
The Commissioners approved a contract with Indiana Assessment Services of Rochester for services through the Assessor’s Office. The contract is for 40 hours, down from 50 hours with an hourly rate of $140 per hour.
In other business the Commissioners approved the Town of Culver’s request to allow the County to issue building permits for the town. County Building Inspector, Chuck DeWitt told the commissioners that the Town of Culver had approved the change during their February 10th meeting. DeWitt explained that the County has been issuing permits for Argos since last summer and Bremen permits since the beginning of the year and the Bourbon Town Council is scheduled to consider the option at their March meeting. This is just another step in making the permit process easier when the county moves to on-line permitting.
Chris Marbach from Marbach, Brady & Weaver, surveyors for the NIPSCO Project, Reynolds to Topeka appeared before the Commissioners this week seeking their permission to be able to access the property owner’s names and addresses through the county’s GIS data. Marbach says they plan on notifying each and every property owner affected once they have the three or four possible routes for the new power lines. The County’s GIS does not automatically give out those details for its $15,000 fee. Marbach also let it be known that the cost from the 10 other counties he is getting GIS data from ranges in cost from $750 to $1,000. Without actually flat out asking he was hoping for a reduction in cost and said they would sign a non-disclosure statement and would not sell information, keeping the data confidential.
Marbach said, “They are starting the line design locations as we speak.”
The commissioners took the request under-advisement and will speak with their attorney and the I.T. department and would have an answer to their request at their first meeting in March.
At the close of the meeting the Commissioners approved a letter of support for the Plymouth Airport’s grant application for an AWOS (Automated Weather Observation System).
