Published: August 07, 2009 01:42 pm      

Clark County Commissioners: Hospital lease one step closer

Sellersburg residents levy drainage complaints to commissioners

One more hurdle was cleared in securing the lease agreement between Clark Memorial Hospital and the county at the Clark County Commissioners meeting Thursday.

The $52 million bond agreement will allow the hospital to sell bonds for the value of the buildings and property and buy them back over time, essentially setting up a landlord-tenant structure with the county.

Martin Padgett, president and CEO of Clark Memorial Hospital, along with the attorneys representing the hospital in securing the lease agreement, were on hand for the public hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday during the commissioners meeting.

No members of the public were present to speak for or against the agreement.

The resolution — 10-2009 — passed without opposition 2-0, as Commissioner Mike Moore was on vacation and not present at the meeting.

One 30-day period remains in which residents will be given a chance to file objections to the agreement. The final step before the lease becomes official will be approval by the Indiana Bond Bank.



In other business:

• Several residents from Forest Estates and Silver Glades were in attendance seeking action on flooding problems occurring in their neighborhoods.

The recent rainstorm that caused flooding throughout Southern Indiana and Louisville being excluded, residents said they are subject to flooding at least four to five times each year.

The problems were borne out of poor designs for drainage, an ineffective “retention pond” that does not hold stormwater and construction of new neighborhoods that have caused more water to run onto established properties, according to residents.

In hopes that the commissioners would take some action to resolve the flooding, those living in Forest Estates and Silver Glades were given some bad news.

“Sellersburg is the only entity today that has jurisdiction to enforce [a drainage ordinance],” said Greg Fifer, attorney for the commissioners and county drainage board. “When it was annexed, the county lost jurisdiction. We can’t do anything inside the town boundaries of Sellersburg.”

Fifer did say he would speak to the original designer of the drainage plan and inform the community members where they can go to seek redress for the flooding problems.

• Barbara Swank-Gallegos, account executive for Maverick Insurance, was on hand to apologize to the commissioners for a mistake that was made while preparing the proposal for property-casualty insurance for the county.

The mistake was the inclusion of the automobile insurance — $146,822 — twice in the 2008-2009 proposal from the previous agent of record. Maverick claimed savings, as a result of the inclusion, of $161,000, when actual savings are much less, if any, as previously reported in The Evening News.

“It was a human error with no intent of misrepresentation,” Swank-Gallegos said.

• Property tax bills may be one step closer to going out to residents.

Keith Groth, auditor for Clark County, expects the preliminary tax rate — form 1872 — to be returned to the county shortly. After the rate is received, there will be a 10-day window for hearings on the taxing units.

Within about a week, following the 10-day period, the county should have budget orders and county tax rates, Groth said.

• The county’s funding — $185,000 out of the rainy day fund — to construct a traffic signal and extended turn lanes on Ind. 62 and Salem-Noble Road was approved by the commissioners and will go to the Clark County Council for final approval and allocation.

• The Clark County Water and Sewer District — a district that has been largely nonexistent — received new appointments and funding Thursday.

Ed Meyer, Les Young and Mike Vissing were approved as board members along with $50,000 in emergency funding allocated to the district.

• Road projects being overseen by the county have been prioritized from greatest to least importance in order to secure federal and state funding. The projects listed do not include all on-going construction, but were listed as follows: St. John Road, Star Hill Road, Salem-Noble Road and Bethany Road.