Brown It took little time for new Carroll County Council President Ann Brown to make her presence known at the Tuesday morning meeting. She took the reigns immediately and began to discuss necessary changes to facilitate the council's workload and the public's right to understand the proceedings and address the elected representatives.

After Slavens was named vice president of the group, Brown announced a plan for a new seating arrangement "so that no one (council member) has their back to the audience." No changes were immediately made, however. It was noted one of the two new council members, Scott Ayres, was present. Marion Huffer, was unable to attend the meeting due to recent health issues.

Council meetings will be held the third Tuesday of each month. Meetings in the last month of the quarter will be at 4 p.m. All other meetings will be at 8:30 a.m.

Council members decided by consensus to maintain the finance committee. Members will be appointed by Brown. Duties include providing preliminary annual budget preparation reports for the group, consulting with other counties, tracking income and expenditures, and maintaining a "running balance sheet" to help council members stay informed of the county financial status in a timely manner.

It was decided by consensus members would receive monthly financial reports from auditor Beth Myers at least three days prior to council meetings to allow members to understand the information and be ready for discussion. It was also decided one council member would lead the discussion about the financial reports at each meeting. Slavens will be discussion leader in February.

The council will consider adoption of a cumulative capital improvement fund budget, hiring a county manager, developing a council budget and hiring legal counsel for the council in 2009. Council members plan to review department budget line items and consult with recommendations to department heads in the coming year. They will also monitor and review controllable tax rates to enhance effectiveness of tax levies.

TIF commission

Dale Zinn and Raymond Zink were re-appointed to the Carroll County Redevelopment Commission. There was no objection to the two re-appointments, however council members agreed they were not obligated to follow the re-appointment recommendations.

"I think we need to be careful of what we're doing," Slavens said. "There is money in the TIF that could help EMS and the sheriff's department."

He noted Indiana Packers Corp., where the present TIF district is located, receives services from those departments. Slavens said the council should ensure there were members of the group who would be able to evaluate all county needs when making TIF decisions.

Jerry Hendress requested a formal legal opinion about the ability of redevelopment commission members to decide, independently of the county council, to expand the current district boundaries or create a new district. Commissioners' attorney Barry Emerson was directed to provide the opinion at the February meeting.

Carroll County Redevelopment Commission members are Raymond Zink, Dale Zinn, Milton Rodgers, Larry Trapp and Monty Edging (pending). Emerson serves as the group's legal counsel.

Other business

Ayres was appointed to the Carroll County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Board. Former council member Rob Baker was reappointed to the committee to revise the county personnel manual. Louis Nance was appointed to the local alcoholic beverage board.

Myers reported county general contained a positive balance of approximately $1.4 million. She said fall property tax settlement provided $1.3 million to the general fund. Myers said all inter-fund loans were satisfied except the cumulative bridge fund loan for $350,000. Approximately $332,000 of the 2008 general fund was not utilized and year-end receipts for the ambulance service totaled $422,254.65.

Council members voted to seek bids for a 2009 line of credit from lending agencies.

Carroll Manor Superintendent Martha Lewis was granted permission to replace a full-time worker.

Sheriff Tony Burns was granted a $48,000 additional appropriation from cum cap to replace three department vehicles.

The next meeting will be Feb. 17 at 8:30 a.m.