Welcome to the Timesheet. This column is a report of work done on behalf of the people of Hamilton County. It’s to be informative, too – a place to learn about projects and how our county government works.
As your employee, it’s important to me that you know what is being worked on as transparently as possible in government. You hired me as your County Councilman, and my hope is that you’ll choose to be informed by regularly reading this column, getting involved, and by asking questions. Council meetings are at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month at the Judicial Center in downtown Noblesville. They are also available to watch online for those unable to attend in person. Here is where my time this past month has been spent.
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Month six passed quickly. Council activity is speeding up as we head towards budget meetings.
It’s clear why a distribution of the workload among council members is important. It would be easy to operate “a mile wide and an inch deep,” given the dozens and dozens of projects, requests, and departments. With such a wide range of county services, their diverse nature, and the sheer volume of financial transactions that require oversight, it’s understandable how things could get missed and slip by. In my case, it’s better to be deeply immersed in large taxpayer impact items and knowledgeable in all the other things that require the oversight of your county council.
This month, an in-person personnel committee meeting was canceled, replaced by a poll of the members for a small number of requests. These requests were voted on by the full council at our July 5 meeting. Our in-person highway committee meeting was canceled, and the two minor requests were voted on at the full council meeting. As a reminder, the improvements on the 146th and Allisonville Road project may be tracked at streamline146.com.
In addition to the County Council public meetings, this month’s work included attending a Board of Commissioners meeting, as well as Cicero, Westfield, and Noblesville town council public meetings. This month also included a planning meeting with the prosecutor, a planning meeting with the Hamilton County Senior Center board, and representing the County at the Vincennes University workforce graduation ceremony and at the dinner hosted by Stronger Veterans, Stronger Communities, which focused on the prevention of veterans’ suicide. The month included time with Hamilton Heights and Sheridan school district administrators discussing their new alternative school for Northern Hamilton County and time meeting with Noblesville’s Deputy Mayor to discuss current and upcoming projects that overlap between the city and the county.
Of note this month was being a part of the County’s health insurance and retiree benefits annual review. As expected, benefits for employees are very costly and the county provides world class benefits and healthcare insurance. It’s critical, too, for the county to provide the same level of benefits to those who spent years in service to Hamilton County. These investments are a significant amount, well into the tens of millions of dollars. They require monitoring and regular reviews to ensure that we stay current with benefits, costs, and coverage.
I had a special treat attending the “State of the County” address given by Commissioner Dillinger. The presentation included a retrospective of where we came from, as well as a current look of where we are and ended with a forward look at where we are going as a county. The presentation was well done, often humorous, and very informative.
This month’s work also included a first pass at what could be a new Multi-Purpose Hamilton County Senior Center. It’s in the early stages and far from a success, but I’m attempting to create a space that can serve several groups of our fellow citizens with as little public money as possible. We also had the opportunity to do a first review on the Judicial Center expansion and a request to increase the local innkeeper’s tax by 3 percent.
Yep, it’s been a busy month.
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This is my timesheet. This is where my time went during month six. There are quite a few projects in the queue for 2023 and while my job is primarily the financial oversight of the county budget it is important to understand the Board of Commissioners’ priorities and balance them with the stewardship of taxpayer dollars. That is the job, and I am excited to do the people’s business.
As a taxpayer myself, and listening to so many of you, our employers, it’s important for the taxpayers to have access to all the information you want. I work for you and although you may not choose to do a deep dive into what your County Council does, it’s important that you always can do so.
Feel free to contact me at (317) 832-1104 or mark.hall@hamiltoncounty.in.gov with questions, feedback, or if you would like to talk about county business.