Recording meetings recommended to alleviate future conflict for commissioners

In light of recent events at the county commissioners meeting, Commissioner Doug Uebelhor recommended the meetings be recorded in the future.

“Questions have arisen about actions and votes taken in past meetings. Commissioners have disagreed about what was decided,” Uebelhor read from prepared statement. “These disagreements could have been avoided if the meetings of the commission were recorded audio-visually.”

Uebelhor was referring to the first meeting of 2014 when the commissioners voted for the presidency and vice presidency of the commission. Commissioners Larry Vollmer and Randy Fleck sparred over the paving of a subdivision that occurred after Vollmer htated he couldn’t support Fleck for the presidency of the commission due to his involvement.

Fleck stated the commissioners supported the decision to have the highway department pave Deer Creek Road before the developer had paid the county to do so. The funds were never collected from the developer and no vote or mention of the decision was recorded in the minutes of the commissioner meetings at the time. A story on the deal is here.

Uebelhor also pointed out that the county auditor Kathy Hopf is responsible for completing the minutes for county meetings according to Indiana State Law. Hopf records the meeting minutes for the county council but not the commissioners. 

Art Nordhoff Jr., the county’s attorney, has been responsible for recording the minutes for “as long as I can remember,” according to Nordhoff.

Hopf told the commissioners she could research recording equipment for the commissioners meetings.

Currently, Jasper video records public meetings and Huntingburg audio records their meetings. WJTS Channel 18 usually video records the Huntingburg Common Council meeting and broadcasts those meetings on Sunday.

Uebelhor also stated he would like to make the recordings available online in addition to the written minutes that are already available on the county website. However, he did point out that the minutes are not updated on the website very quickly. On Tuesday, the most recent minutes available on the county’s website were for September of 2013. Those have since been updated to December.