By KEN ALEXANDER
Council Minutes
November was a difficult month, and I am overjoyed to see the calendar flip to December. While my Boilermakers were doing well and are now No. 1 in the country in men’s basketball, my family struggled with illness throughout the month.
The County Council was relatively unexciting, but we did have a lively discussion about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 and the plans for the County 4-H Fairgrounds.
Following that, I was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, which overwhelmed me. Even though I felt terrible, the urgent care clinic wasn’t too worried, as I had no temperature and my issues were mild compared to some COVID patients: coughing, congestion and just exhausted by the sleepless nights.
In hindsight, I should have asked for a COVID test. Now symptom-free, I took a COVID test and am positive, which has canceled a trip to Texas for a conference on economic development and sports tourism. My doctor believes I probably had COVID in early November, but because I am fully vaccinated, it reduced the symptoms, but they cannot say for sure. I am thankful that my case was relatively mild, as I know that is not always the case.
I am sharing all of this very personal information because we are in the midst of the cold and flu season and it is really easy to overlook things as we try to return to normal. COVID is still a concern, and we all need to do our best to prevent the spread. Your health and our economy’s health are at stake.
The December Council meeting was relatively similar to previous meetings, but we had a work session, and I also attended the county highway meeting, did a project walkthrough of State Road 37 and participated in our ARPA meetings.
Our Council work session, which is a public meeting, occurred right before our regularly scheduled Council meeting. The main topic of the work session was a discussion over our planned investment in a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Human Capital Management (HCM) system for the county. This is a very important decision and one that affects every employee and department. We have not invested in this system in nearly 20 years, and it will lead to many efficiencies and improve user experiences once it is up and running. Over the past year, the county has had a team of people evaluating the different systems and companies that would support the various products. In the end, they have narrowed it down to two teams.
While it was a lively discussion, the Council recognizes the importance of the upgrade and is prepared to invest in the new product, but as the fiduciary arm of the county, our role is to be prepared to fund the project while the Commissioners will make the selection. We are prepared to support the decision to invest in the new ERP system, and I want to thank the county employees and departments who shared their opinions to support this process. Sometime in 2022, we will start the transition, and I will be happy to share more at that time.
The County Council had several appropriations and transfers as the departments closed out their plans for 2021. We will have a final meeting in late December that will close out the different funds, but we try to handle the vast majority of this at our regularly scheduled December meeting.
A few that I’d like to share are additional appropriations to support maintenance and materials. I bring this up because the impact of the pandemic is still wreaking havoc on our economy, and the county is impacted in many of the same ways as our friends in the private sector. Our budgets and projects are budgeted with existing conditions in mind and a slight variable for inflation. Today we are seeing spikes that are far outside a normal inflation rate of 2.5 percent. These impacts are being felt at every level of our organization.
The Hamilton County Highway Department has seen spikes in oil that are leading our resurfacing program to be more expensive per lane mile. Costs of certain products have risen by nearly 20 percent and that might not be the end of it. The transfer to cover the remaining paving for 2021 was bid out and needed an additional $80,000 to finish the planned scope.
Equipment availability has led to extreme cost increases. A 20-year-old roller that we initially planned to replace was priced more than $100,000 more than what the cost was just nine months previously. We are using the transfer of dollars to fund a different piece of equipment and will hope prices level out next year before we make this investment.
The Building & Grounds team has done an exceptional job of trying to minimize supply chain impacts by buying in bulk and doing purchases for the entire county in lieu of everyone doing it themselves. However, shortages of some products due to supply chain meltdown along with the cost of materials being at an all-time high have shot prices up and we are being told to expect a possible larger increase to come in the first half of 2022. In general, paper products and cleaning supplies are up 15 percent. Maintenance is in some cases triple the cost from a few years ago due to workforce shortages coupled with 17 percent increases in the maintenance materials. Standard equipment parts like pumps and motors used to be on-the-shelf items. In some cases, we are now looking at six-month delays, which can have real consequences as some of our buildings are older and in need of ongoing maintenance.
Things are not good, and I feel obligated to be straightforward about it. I’m sure you have seen your grocery bill go up or maybe your local coffee shop is changing hours because of a lack of workforce. Many of these things are the wants in life. Our county is focusing on many of the needs and we will continue to support them. We are blessed to live in America and especially blessed to live in Hamilton County. While things are hurting, we are in a strong financial position to continue to support the needs of this county and we will continue to challenge the status quo to make sure that your taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely.
This is my last article of the year, a year that has been very memorable with accomplishments.
A new parking garage to support our workforce will open in 2022. An investment was made to support our schools, businesses and economic development by spearheading and funding the start-up of the Hamilton County Career Center. A new Humane Society building was opened thanks in part to the financial support of county government. We started an efficiency study to understand the opportunities to better support our departments and subsequently our residents and businesses who depend on our services.
It has been a great year and there are many people to thank, but it starts with our employees who fought through a pandemic and continued to support this county in ways that many will never truly understand. We have a remarkable workforce, and I thank them for their dedication.
The elected officials in our county also deserve credit as they help shape the discussions and have a willingness to work together to support this county. This includes our County Council, which has been extremely active this year, and without the support of the Auditor and her staff, we would not have been able to achieve the things we pursued.
Lastly, someone said to me that it is nice to have a County Council with such diverse backgrounds as we each seem to have our own unique expertise that we bring to the council which helps us achieve. We have gotten a lot accomplished and that is through the collaborative approach of this group.
It has been a memorable year and it would be remiss if I didn’t thank the Hamilton County Reporter for allowing me to write a monthly column and you, the readers, and residents of Hamilton County, for reading it and being engaged in the discussion. Hamilton County is better because of you all. I welcome your questions at ken.alexander@hamiltoncounty.in.gov. Have a blessed and healthy holiday season.
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.