Hamilton County Councilman Mark Hall’s May Timesheet

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. Meetings are also available to watch online for those unable to attend in person.

Here is where my time this past month has been spent.

In addition to County Council public and RDC meetings, May’s work included a joint meeting with the Commissioners, a county financing and debt strategy meeting, attending a Council Commissioner Joint session, a Regional Development Commission meeting, attending RDC vendor interviews and selection meetings, attending a Board of Commissioners public meeting, attending a Noblesville City Council meeting, meeting with the firm recruiting our next Director of Tourism, and attending a Cicero Town council meeting.

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This month, along with other RDC members, consultants, and county officials, I participated in the vendor interview and selection process for the Police & Fire Training Center project. It was pretty much as you’d expect: study their proposals, analyze their answers to written questions we’d sent them, check their references on similar projects, and then I spent time checking their reputations by speaking with some of my friends that had prior business relationships with the finalists. Each company had 45 minutes to make their pitch and answer questions. Having been on the other side of the table in these things I have a certain appreciation for all the work, preparation and nervous anxiety that goes into preparing to be interviewed for a large project.

As a taxpayer, I appreciate the frank, open, back and forth discussion vetting each proposer’s strengths and vulnerabilities. After the grilling of the two finalists was complete, as one of five votes awarding this RDC contract, I felt good about the discussion we had and how we arrived at a decision to award the contract. It was the first time I had been a part of a contract award like this. Experiencing “how the sausage gets made” gives me an appreciation for what the Commissioners go through regularly in making similar award decisions. This is a $20 million project, paid for by a county TIF district, and it was approached, vetted, and awarded with a tremendous level of fiscal prudency, detail, and oversight.

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May’s personnel committee meeting was moved to a poll of the members. Items included a position reclassification and two new hires in the Emergency Management Department. These changes were based on a review internally and an outside review by the county’s independent benefits and compensation vendor. The Finance committee did not meet in May.

Personnel requests are voted on as they occur, first in the personnel committee and then at the next regular council meeting using a recommendation from the committee. I was a part of an in-depth county finance strategy meeting this month. Topics included public market bond financing practices, policies, and strategies to minimize interest costs to the taxpayers, future major projects financing and implementing procedures to maintain our present AAA bond rating. The presentation included an impact analysis of rising interest costs allowing the full council to better decide if we use cash or debt to pay for projects.

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This month there were several taxpayer requests. In the interest of space and brevity, two constituent’s requests are highlighted in this month’s column. Usually, requests require research with a county department, securing the correct answer and then following up with the taxpayer.

May’s first request was asking how to remonstrate against the County Utility District. Essentially, their questions boiled down to how can an individual citizen express concerns over the size of the utility district and apprehensions about being required to connect to a utility in the future. The second request, a constituent reached out, exasperated over their property taxes and their latest assessment.

A citizen needed assistance in getting their voice and concerns heard by the elected officials who control the Utility District. The resolution was twofold: first, reassurance to speak their mind to those in power, and second, when and how to do so. It may seem as though elected officials are difficult to reach, and the reality is we are, given the schedules we have, but that’s the job. My encouragement was to show up, come to the public meetings (they are all published in advance on the county website), write letters and emails, and schedule meetings with elected officials. Public opinion really does matter – be heard.

One of the most frequent questions I get is “why are my property taxes what they are?” The question is often accompanied by a couple of adjectives. The resolution is almost always the same process. Have you appealed your assessment? Did you know that you can appeal it? Next, have you received all the deductions that you qualify for? In this case, meeting with members of the Assessors and Auditors team was the resolution to their question.

I showed the constituent that because they live in the Noblesville City tax district, 47 percent of their property tax bill goes directly to the schools, 41 percent goes to City Government, 10 percent to County Government, and the remainer to the Libraries and Solid Waste.

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During the RDC bid process I began asking vendors to provide a cost saving estimate if the county implemented an owner-controlled insurance program, commonly referred to as OCIP. During May, we learned that the county may qualify for such a program. If so, this could represent a savings for the taxpayers in that it allows the county to better manage certain risks and costs for vendors under a standardized larger county insurance risk program.

Bringing cost savings like this and paying attention to details on spending is what I ran for office on. It’s why you hired me to do this work and I’m happy to report back to you about what is going on.

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This month, it was an honor to represent you at the Gaylor Electric National Headquarters grand opening, on WIBC radio, at the Noblesville Youth Assistance Shining Stars student recognition dinner, at a transitional housing planning meeting with local agency leaders, at the ABC Prep Academy signing day ceremonies, and in meetings with Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen and with State Senator Scott Baldwin.

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This is my timesheet. This is where my time went during month 17. There are many projects in the queue for 2024, 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 can always 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.