AGENDA
Vanderburgh County
Board of Commissioners
December 6, 2011
5:00 p.m.
Room 301
1. Call to Order
2. Attendance
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Action Items
• Vectren Presentation
• Evansville ARC Update
• Substance Abuse Council Update
• Road Race Request: Run This Whey 10 Mile Run
• First Reading of CO.12-11-006: An Ordinance Amending Chapter 2.56 entitled City-County Human Relations Commission
• Contracts, Agreements and Leases
i. Commissioners:
 Collective Bargaining Agreement for County Highway, Centre, Burdette, Superintendent of County Buildings and Weights and Measures
 Agreement with Hamrick’s Towing and Recovery, LLC for towing services for the County
 Interlocal Agreement for Peck Road Improvements
 Agreement between City and County to swap certain routes for snow removal near jurisdictional boundaries
ii. Health Department
 Verizon Wireless GSA Federal Supply Schedule Purchase Order
 Title V-MCH Block Grant
iii. Superior Court: Home Verification Officer Agreements
 Deputy Troy Hardin
 Deputy Dion Wingerter
 Deputy Michael Collins
iv. County Assessor: Renewal of Agreement with DS Parker Family, LLC for Assessor Services
v. Engineer: Xerox Copier Lease Agreement
• Permission to Award: VC11-11-01 Bridge No. 1420 Maintenance (No. 6 School Road) to Adler Excavating for $26,346.03
5. Department Head Reports
6. New Business
• First Meeting of 2012
7. Old Business
8. Public Comment
9. Consent Items
• Approval of November 15, 2011 Commission meeting minutes
• Employment Changes
• Evansville Police Department: Waiver of Centre Fees, Not Overtime for Training on February 27, 2012
• County Auditor
i. Request to Surplus Various Office Furniture and Equipment
ii. Approval of November 2011 A/P Vouchers
• Commissioners
i. Notice to Abutting Owners of Sale of 907 S. Governor
ii. Sale of 321 Read Street
iii. Request for Proposals for grant management and administrative services related to the Bonannon Sewer Project
• Evansville ARC: October 2011 Report of Activities
• Weights and Measures Monthly Report for October 16- November 15, 2011
• County Treasurer: September 2011 Monthly Report
• County Clerk: October 2011 Monthly Report
• County Engineer: Pay Request No. 140 for TIF Projects in the Amount of $33,769.79
• Department Head Reports
10. Adjournment
From: volokh.com
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Jerry Brown’s Proposal to Abolish California’s Redevelopment Agencies Would Help End Eminent Domain Abuse
Ilya Somin • March 26, 2011 10:24 pm
As part of his plan to address California’s fiscal crisis, liberal Democratic Governor Jerry Brown has proposed abolishing California’s 400 local “redevelopment agencies,†which would save the state some $1.7 billion per year, an important step towards closing the state’s $25 billion annual deficit. Unfortunately, his plan has so far been stymied by opposition from California Republicans, all but one of whom voted against it in the California Assembly. Under the California state constitution, passage of the bill requires a two thirds majority in the state Assembly, and Brown fell one vote short.
The GOP’s stance on this issue is extremely unfortunate, and at odds with the Party’s supposed devotion to free markets and property rights. As Steven Greenhut, an expert on California property rights issues points out in a recent Wall Street Journal op ed, the redevelopment agencies are notorious for their abuses of the power of eminent domain for the benefit of powerful private interest groups:
[I]n the last 60-some years, redevelopment agencies have become fiefdoms that run up enormous debt and abuse eminent domain by transferring private property to large developers promising to build tax-generating bonanzas. Today, there are 749 such projects. In the late 1950s, there were only nine. According to the state controller, redevelopment agencies consume about 12% of all state-wide property taxes—money that would otherwise go to critical public services….
Palm Desert’s redevelopment agency proposed to eliminate so-called blight by spending nearly $17 million on revamping a municipal golf club that remains one of the nation’s premier golfing locales.
In the 12 years I’ve spent reporting on this issue, I’ve seen an agency attempt to bulldoze an entire residential neighborhood and transfer the land to a theme-park developer. I’ve witnessed agencies declare eminent domain against churches—which pay few taxes—in order to sell the property at a deep discount to big-box stores that promise to keep city coffers flush. Working-class people and ethnic minorities often are the victims of this process since they often live in the vulnerable neighborhoods, and they have less muscle than big business developers.
The trouble is that blight is an amorphous concept, easily abused by government officials and redevelopment agencies. Once “blight†is found, the agency creates a project area and can then begins selling bonds (incurring debt) without a public vote. In 1995, one area of the city of Diamond Bar, where I lived, was declared blighted because there was chipped paint on some buildings….
While economic development and local control are crucial issues, it’s hard to understand why any Republican would believe that a regime of government planning and subsidy is the best way to achieve those goals. They should be standing up against the abuses of property rights and the fiscal irresponsibility inherent in the redevelopment process and championing market-based alternatives to urban improvement—even if it means defending a proposal from a Democratic governor they often disagree with. (more). . . . . . . . .
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