Lebanon mayor's threat to stop work on jail project brings Boone County Commissioners to the table

Maria Flora, The Lebanon Reporter, Ind.
·4 min read

Jul. 19—Lebanon's mayor threatened to issue a stop-work order on the new Boone County Justice Center under construction on the city's south side. But he rescinded the threat July 13 after meeting with county officials to hammer out their differences.

The city and county lack a memorandum of understanding regarding planning and permitting requirements for county owned land within city limits.

The city annexed the land upon which the Boone County Jail and fairgrounds sit to supply utilities at the county's request in the mid-2000s. Larry Giddings was the city's attorney at the time, and county leaders believe the city council allowed the county to retain planning authority over the land.

Attorney for the commissioners, Robert Clutter, said earlier this year he had a letter from Giddings that said as much.

The county built a Lebanon Fire Department fire tower and a shooting range shared with the Lebanon Police Department since the annexation and did not go through the city process for planning. The Boone County Planning Department and Surveyor's office handled planning and permitting for the earlier projects and for the $60 million justice center.

But city leaders complained that a previous administration and council never formalized the agreement that excludes the city from the permitting process. City leaders could find no signed agreement.

And last year, Mayor Matthew Gentry requested a memorandum of understanding from the county, or a copy of a formalized agreement from the time of the annexation. City and county leaders met in October and agreed to create an MOU.

Commissioners sent a draft of an MOU to the city in January, heard nothing in return, and sent the MOU with commissioners' signatures in February, believing the Lebanon City Council would accept it, Clutter said at the time. With the MOU, Clutter included a copy of Giddings' letter outlining the previous understanding.

The city sent a revised MOU proposal to commissioners in April, and commissioners took no action on it.

So, Gentry sent an email on July 7, threatening to stop work at the justice center.

"We have been waiting on a response from your legal counsel for about two months ... concerning the still unapproved memorandum of understanding between the city and county ..." Gentry wrote in part.

The city allowed the project to continue with the understanding that an MOU was imminent, but, "this no longer seems to be the situation," Gentry said.

"The city is deeply uncomfortable allowing this project within our jurisdiction to proceed any further without some type of city review and oversite," Gentry wrote. "From our perspective, there is no official agreement or policy that exempts the county government from city planning oversight. If we do not have a resolution by July 14th, the city will be issuing a stop work order on the project."

Gentry demanded one of three measures:

* A fully executed copy of the "historical agreement that was allegedly approved by the city council ... that clearly shows the county was granted immunity from city planning jurisdiction;"

* "We come to terms on the proposed MOU ...;" and

* "You begin the city planning and permitting process."

Clutter sent a revised MOU last week, and he, Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, Gentry, and city attorney Rob Schein met July 13.

"We're going to work through it," Gentry said following the meeting. "We're not going to issue the stop-work order."

But he still insisted that nothing exempts the county from city planning.

The county will still use its own planning and permitting process but will now notify the city as it progresses, Gentry said. They'll still pay all applicable fees that any other builder would have to when building in Lebanon, that even the city pays when building something.

Even without an MOU, the county recently paid the city more than $800,000 for Lebanon Utilities to provide service to the justice center.

And now the city will bill the county $60,000 for road impact fees.

"There is a process for them to appeal, if they feel it's not justified, but they will at least acknowledge that they are subject to those fees," Gentry said.

Clutter and Wolfe said Monday they expect to present a final MOU with the city for commissioners to sign at their next meeting Aug. 7. And they plan to appeal the $60,000 road impact fee.