By KEN ALEXANDER
Council Minutes
Thank you to the Hamilton County Reporter again. Almost a year into these updates and I have enjoyed writing each one. The feedback has been wonderful and I feel that I am helping inform the general public who often don’t see the local headlines amongst the daily barrage of statewide or national events. I’m humbled to be in the position of County Councilor and honored to be allowed this opportunity to share my comments in regard to the County Council.
As we approach the end of another summer, I hope each and every one of you had the opportunity to see or visit some of the beauty our county has to offer. Getting some fresh air may help us all gain some perspective but also see one of the many assets we support as a county – our parks system.
After a busy few months of budget meetings and the August hearings, September just seemed to fly by. Our agenda this month was pretty light. We continue to work toward restructuring some debt and financing the parking garage. You may wonder why it takes so long to get this approved, but the elongated process is there for the protection of the citizens and taxpayers. By having multiple public hearings, citizens are provided the opportunity to listen and participate in public comments which can affect voting.
The action taken at this month’s council meeting was to refund general obligation bonds from 2013 and reissue bonds to cover that expense as well as the additional money to fund a parking garage.
We had a short conversation about the efficiency study that Hamilton County has teamed with KPMG to support. We have started the conversation about the extent of information requested by KPMG and it is immense. The dialogue was fruitful and we are going to be reviewing the schedule with our initial departments so that we do not overwhelm them with this request. We can all agree that the information that comes out of this study will provide the county with options to meet some of our goals, provide our elected officials with better information to support funding decisions and support the long-range planning that our department heads are tasked with developing. This will be an exhaustive effort and we have agreed to have KPMG provide our Council with some regular updates as the process evolves.
The majority of the agenda was grant and miscellaneous appropriation requests. One of the largest items was an appropriation for just over $900,000 from our non-reverting computer maintenance fund. As I am sure many readers can attest, our IT infrastructure is the lifeblood that makes our county and probably your business operate. This appropriation supported the engineering, equipment and labor to implement an expansion of our county’s network to support better functionality at the Ford Dispatch Building and at the Lifeline Data Center. While very costly, making sure technology is operating smoothly and efficiently is paramount to the success of our employees.
The last item I want to touch on was a follow-up to the fireworks of last month that had to do with better coordination of grant applications and the impact of commitments in the future. I submitted an ordinance to provide a structure for this coordination process. Having a clear understanding of the county commitments allows for the Council to make decisions that impact our financial plan. This is key to maintaining our low tax rate but also helps us plan and strategize with county departments and the Commissioners to provide for the citizens of this county effectively. Last month there was a lot of commotion about the need for this. We only initiated the process to begin the conversation and what followed was a request for funding a strategic project at 146th Street and Allisonville Road, which was not part of our fiscal plan.
The ordinance and this process mostly impact our Highway Department as they apply for grants regularly which allows us to expand and improve our transportation system at a reduced cost to the taxpayers. The County Council does not want to get in the way of this process but would like to have greater clarity in the commitments that go along with these grants. Between meetings, we had our longest meeting with the Highway Department. In it we walked through the needed process and what we agreed to was providing a monthly update. The update will summarize the projects that have been awarded and the projects we have applied for funding consideration. Within this update, the highway department will provide the total project cost, the grant savings, the actual commitment to the county, a projected timeline for the project and a determination as to whether this project is funded out of the Highway Department’s budget or requires the Council to look at other financing options. I am preparing the initial document which will become a regular update shared amongst the Council. This will be helpful for everyone involved.
Thanks again for reading this update. My goal with these monthly columns is to inform you of county-level issues, and to invite you into the conversation. It is easy to say we have all the answers, but I see myself as a gatherer of facts elected to promote business principles in government. I welcome your questions at ken.alexander@hamiltoncounty.in.gov.
Ken Alexander is serving in his first term on the Hamilton County Council, representing District 4, which includes Adams and Washington townships, and part of Clay Township.