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- Hello, and welcome to "Cats Week."
- I'm Annaliese Poorman.
- The Monroe County Commissioners met on April 10th
- and discussed the ongoing measles outbreak.
- Health Administrator Lori Kelly shared
- that there are six reported cases of measles in Allen County.
- She highlighted that measles has a highly successful vaccine.
- Health care providers recommend children
- receive the MMR vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age
- and, again, between 4 and 6 years of age.
- Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective
- in preventing measles and providing protection for life.
- Measles is highly contagious,
- especially for those who are unvaccinated.
- Even vaccinated individuals should remain cautious.
- Commissioner Jody Madeira said
- measles has become a cause for concern.
- I think this is a very scary time.
- I'm very glad that my loved ones and myself are vaccinated,
- and I urge everyone out there to get themselves
- and their loved ones vaccinated so we don't have
- the catastrophic loss of life that we've seen in Texas.
- The Health Department is hosting
- an MMR vaccine mobile clinic at noon through 6 p.m.
- on April 23rd at the Ellisville branch
- of the Monroe County Public Library.
- The commissioners approved a Bloomington Transfer Agreement,
- ensuring that county employees
- continue to have access to discounted bus services.
- Commissioner Thomas says she appreciates the program.
- It's really a great option for employees
- who, you know, live inside the city limits
- or in the bus service area and work here downtown.
- It's gonna be very useful. -Agreed, yeah.
- Additionally, the commissioners approved agreements
- with three on-call services,
- including seal-coding and paving,
- land surveying and civil engineering,
- and HVAC and plumbing.
- Madera said approval of on-call services
- is a straightforward decision,
- highlighting that on-call services
- are needed to run the county.
- This is one of those essential agreements
- that we just approve of, so.
- And, again, I think one of the things
- I would like to just mention, too,
- is that one of the things that I've learned
- getting into county government is it just takes
- so many cogs and wheels that you never see
- unless you watch these meetings, so.
- The commissioner also approved accepting the completion
- of a project extending North Lintel Drive
- as part of the North Park PUD.
- The next Monroe County Commissioner meeting
- will be held on April 17th.
- The Monroe County Council met on April 8th.
- During public comment, Monroe County
- Vote Center Study Committee member
- Alana Stonebreaker spoke to the council
- about the public hearing that they have held
- on vote centers and urged the council
- to continue to be involved in the process.
- Hi, everyone. My name is Alana Stonebreaker,
- and I'm a private citizen and volunteer for --
- as chair for the Monroe County Vote Center Committee.
- For the past two years, our committee has been working
- to develop a draft plan for adoption
- of vote centers in Monroe County.
- That plan is now available to the public
- on the Monroe County Election Board website.
- As a reminder, election center --
- vote centers in Indiana allow registered voters
- to cast their ballot in any designated location
- in the county, similar to early voting in Monroe County.
- This model provides greater flexibility
- than traditional precinct voting.
- Currently, 65 of the 92 counties have adopted vote centers.
- Yesterday marked the first public hearing of the plan.
- From now until May 19th, community members are invited
- to provide written feedback.
- The report and comment form are accessible
- through the election board site.
- At the hearing, 50 people attended in person
- and 30 more joined online, and over 30 individuals,
- including poll workers, rural voters,
- and student voters spoke in support of the vote centers.
- I want to thank council members Deckard, Feidl,
- and Henry for attending in person,
- and Council President Crossley for participating online.
- I also appreciate hearing two council members
- express public support for vote centers
- and their significance to our community.
- However, I want to note that in June 2023,
- when the committee began its work,
- the county council tabled a resolution
- to support the study, and has not revisited the issue
- in a formal way since.
- I have reached out about rescheduling the resolution,
- and has not been placed on subsequent agendas.
- In many other Indiana counties, the fiscal body
- plays an active role in the vote center process,
- including appointing a representative to the committee,
- and working alongside the election board
- from the start to assess financial implications.
- I believe Monroe County would benefit
- from a similar amount of engagement.
- While I understand the pressures
- of uncertain financial times, our shared values,
- particularly around democracy, and equitable access
- to voting remain constant.
- I respectfully urge the county council
- to not delay discussion until the public comment period ends.
- Instead, I encourage you to take up this important issue
- publicly before May 19th.
- Election Supervisor Kylie Morland
- is available to present the plan and present
- its financial implications.
- I am also glad to invite you to our upcoming May
- meeting of the election board, where
- we will be discussing financial questions
- about the proposal.
- Many of you have expressed support for vote centers
- privately and some publicly.
- The Monroe County Council now has an opportunity
- to engage meaningfully and visibly in this initiative.
- I hope you take it.
- Thank you for your time and your continued service
- to Monroe County.
- Also during public comment, Indiana University
- economic professor Gerard Glom informed the public
- about an opportunity to learn more about tariffs.
- Glom said that the purpose of the presentation
- is to educate members of the community
- on how tariffs could impact residents in Indiana.
- My name is Gerard Glom.
- I teach economics at Indiana University.
- When I go to social functions, people ask me what do you do.
- I say I'm an economist.
- And then their response is usually, ah, supply and demand.
- And then, dead silence.
- Evidently, lots of people find economics totally boring.
- The times when economics has been totally boring are over.
- Current and recent actions by the administration
- have brought economics front and center of the public debate.
- Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.
- That's what we hear about in the news most of the time.
- Often, that debate is done in a vacuum information.
- It's based on non-information.
- It's based on nonsensical formulas.
- So in order to remedy that situation,
- we have invited Michael Hicks, full professor of economics
- at Ball State, to come down here this Saturday, 2 o'clock,
- to give a presentation on how tariffs that are in place,
- that are looming, will impact jobs in Indiana.
- How they will impact the Indiana economy.
- And all of you and the public in Monroe County
- is certainly invited to attend this talk
- to find out some honest, truthful information about what
- these tariffs might do to the quality of life,
- to jobs for Hoosiers here in this county
- and beyond this county in this state.
- So again, Saturday afternoon, 2 o'clock,
- the auditorium in the downtown library, from 2 to 3.30,
- you're all invited, the public is invited.
- And we're hoping that this will start a conversation
- and that more useful information about the impact
- of this particular policy will have
- on the quality of our lives.
- Thank you so much.
- During department updates, the sheriff's department
- gave an update on a new staff member.
- Sheriff Ruben Marte introduced the new jail transition
- director, Major Todd Smith.
- I wanna take this opportunity to bring you up to speed,
- reference our new transition team director for the jail.
- So,
- person standing beside me is retired Major Todd Smith.
- And let me tell you a little bit,
- he's gonna say a few things himself
- and be prepared to answer questions if you like,
- but I wanna say a few things about him myself first.
- Major Todd Smith has been employed
- for the state police for 38 years.
- He obtained his law degree from Indiana University 2004.
- He was also the chief legal counsel for the Indiana State Police for 18 years.
- Chief counsel through an entire construction process including site selection, procurement,
- contracting, design, owner representative, punch list, building turnover, warranty work
- of three Indiana State Police posts and three Indiana regional Indiana State Police laboratories.
- For over 12 years he served as general counsel for Indiana Sheriff's Agency.
- He was also primary policy author of the Indiana State Police and three Indiana Sheriff's offices.
- He's also the co-author of Correctional Policy Manual in compliance with Indiana Jail Standard
- currently in use in several Indiana Sheriff's offices.
- Todd has been my co-instructor training and cultural awareness for law enforcement for
- over 12 years.
- We have instructed over 10,000 students in this topic throughout the United States.
- Finally Todd and I co-instruct numerous programs to improve police community relationship.
- With that I introduce to you Major Todd Smith, retired from the Indiana State Police.
- Smith spoke to the council expressing their interest in the position.
- Hello, as Ruben said I'm retiring from my job with the Indiana State Police for over
- 38 years, largely to work with this man again, Sheriff Marte.
- The duties and responsibilities of the director of the transition team have a tremendous amount
- of overlap with what I've done over the last 20 years with the Indiana State Police in my
- position as in legal and as chief legal counsel also in the 12 years that I've worked with
- the sheriff's departments across the state doing the same thing.
- I've already met with the team, I've spoken with Mr. Carnegie at least on a couple occasions,
- we're hitting the ground running and I'm really excited to get started in this position.
- Also during department updates the Soil and Water Conservation District shared a video
- with the council on the importance of the conservation in the community.
- District Manager Martha Miller shared that members of the public can access the video
- at the Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District website.
- It's linked on our site which is monroecoswcd.org.
- After watching the video council members expressed their interest and support for the work that
- Miller has been doing.
- Member Kate Wilts asked Miller to explain for the public listening how the staffing
- for her position works.
- Miller responded.
- For letting folks know kind of purposes, the relationship between your office and the NRCS
- is what exactly?
- So Erica and I are Monroe County employees who work for a subdivision of the state of
- Indiana government.
- We are housed in a federal service center because we partner with NRCS.
- So NRCS is our federal partner.
- They do the big work with the big dollars out on the big farms.
- We do the stuff local and in house.
- And uniquely enough Monroe County is one of the only counties in the state who has an
- ongoing program with their county for some localized funding of this kind of stuff which
- is kind of unique.
- It's also asked about no-till and low-till farming practices.
- My question is I saw, you know, obviously that's about cover crops and planting immediately
- after harvest and a billion years ago when I was in school we learned about cover crops
- but we also talked about no-till and low-till farming.
- How do the two things work together?
- And they have to work together.
- So in the 1980s Monroe County Soil and Water was a forerunner in the state of no-till.
- Dale Conard was a big push, Joe Peden, those guys really aggressively went out there and
- pushed the market.
- Now we've discovered through science that the cover crop works with the no-till to create
- that biological community in the soil so that there's a better medium for growing.
- Basically you're growing underground.
- And so with that, the two work in that you're not flipping the soil upside down and destroying
- the microbiological dome and then the root systems are decomposing, allowing the critters
- if you will to find a thriving environment to live in.
- And I will say our chairman of our board right now is actually Clint Conard who is Dale's
- grandson.
- So two generations later he's really pushing the banner to get guys to do cover crop.
- So guys and gals.
- Thank you.
- The Monroe County Council will meet again on April 22nd.
- The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on April 8th.
- The first item on the agenda was a request by the Housing and Neighborhood Development
- Department to approve a continuous abatement on the McDonald's property on South Walnut
- Street.
- The property was notified of having repeatedly violated Bloomington Municipal Code against
- the littering of trash on any public or private premises.
- Board President Kyla Cox Decker clarified the purpose of establishing a continuous abatement
- to the public.
- The continuous abatement is something that the city can go to if there continues to be
- trash, garbage strewn about the property.
- But the city will only clean when that happens during the continuous abatement.
- So if one cleanup is all it takes and everything from that one cleanup on is in compliance,
- the city won't have to continue to render any kind of services.
- The board passed a motion of approval unanimously.
- The board also approved a request for lane closure of Pete Ellis Drive by the Peterson
- Company.
- President Cox Decker reviewed the time frame of the project.
- They plan on having a lane closure on Pete Ellis during one of the days of that date
- span sometime between April 9th and April 16th.
- That would also be happening during those nighttime work hours, not during daytime work
- hours.
- And they will use flagging as the traffic control device for that closure.
- Finally, the board approved and heard a request by Blackwell Contractors to conduct night
- work for water installation for 361 and 371 West Country Club Drive.
- Engineering Field Specialist Alex Gray explained the reason for this request, citing concerns
- over congestion.
- This has changed many times at this rate.
- So originally the permit was for December 2024.
- It was just water, and it ended up not happening due to weather and timing of all of the winter
- activities.
- So they ended up moving it.
- And now it has been added on to this time to have sanitary as well, which is on the
- opposite side.
- So they'll have work on both the north side of Country Club and the south.
- And because of that, and due to concerns about congestion and kind of backing up at the Rogers
- and Country Club intersection, we've asked them to do night work.
- And CBU and Blackwell are all able to do that, and they're willing.
- We use some traffic counts to kind of see what would be the best times for them to be
- able to work.
- And it seems to be that 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. is the time period.
- Gray also clarified that Blackwell contractors would be working on the project in early May
- rather than the early April timeframe that was previously established.
- Both lanes will be open during the day, and only one will be closed during the nighttime,
- allowing for traffic flagging.
- Public comment was heard from former traffic commissioner, Gray Alexander, who brought
- attention to the railing surrounding the sidewalk that cuts west of the Monroe County Convention
- Center on West 3rd Street.
- Now there's a more substantial barricade at the two ends of it saying sidewalk closed.
- And it's my understanding such a closure should come before this board because it'll surely
- take more than two weeks.
- And there's an argument, is it the city's job because it's such an awkward right of
- way there?
- Or is it the owner's job?
- Well, the landowner is the city.
- And so my concern is that it's getting swept under the rug potentially for years as they
- wait to find out what they're going to do with that hotel.
- And on the one hand, nobody wants to spend money when you know you're going to build
- a hotel there.
- But on the other hand, this sidewalk is pretty important and it's a very stressful pedestrian
- environment.
- Thank you.
- The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on April 22nd.
- The Bloomington Utilities Service Board met on April 7th.
- The board discussed the approval of the consent agenda, which totaled to $62,831.
- Matt Havy, the Assistant Director of Finance, presented the agenda.
- That consists of the following agreements.
- We have one for Brehab Corporation for $2,690.92 to work on the main air compressor at our
- Monroe plant.
- Next one's for Affordable Fence for $16,700 to install a chain link fence with double
- gates at the Winston Thomas location.
- The next one's for Electric Plus for $1,865 for rewiring of the grid number two motor
- and a new breaker and conductors at Butcher Pool.
- Next one's in ViroDynamics for $2,182 for sediment sampling at the North Lagoon at Dilbin
- plant.
- The next one's with SCET Environmental for $13,190.76 to remove various elaborate agents
- and chemicals at the Monroe plant.
- Next one is an on-call contract for $20,000 with Corson Fire and Security for fire protection
- and repair services.
- This one is pending controller approval.
- The next one is Applied Technologies for $2,575 for the inspection and evaluation number
- 3500-gallon ammonia tank.
- Next one is Applied Technical Services for $3,628 to perform ultrasonic fitness testing
- on steel piping.
- Board member Jeff Amen brought up some questions related to the EnviroDynamics LLC Dilbin North
- Lagoon Sediment Sampling Request specifically regarding the purpose of the sampling at the
- location.
- Assistant Director for Environmental Programs Kelsey Thetonia responded to the question.
- So the sampling for the sediment at the bottom of the North Lagoon is to prepare for how
- we're going to dispose of the material.
- We want to find out exactly what is in there since it's been many years since we've fully
- cleaned it out.
- So this company has a specific machine that can basically do a sideways core sample.
- So basically something down there that can catch a core sample, pull it back out.
- We'll do several around the pond to get a representative sample.
- Amon then asked if the pond in question had once been contaminated with PCBs.
- Thetonia responded.
- This pond at one time was contaminated with PCBs, is that correct?
- I am unsure if that is currently an issue, but I know that it was cleaned out about ten
- years ago, so I don't anticipate finding those types of issues, but we'll sample for everything.
- What is found in the pond will dictate the cost of removal.
- The consent agenda was approved.
- Later in the meeting, utilities engineer Caden Swanson requested approval for bid acceptance
- and a contract award for the Pigeon Hill Neighborhood Sewer Lining Project.
- This project is intended to help with infiltration in the area.
- Board member Kirk White inquired about how long the linings were predicted to hold up.
- Swanson responded.
- Yeah, we routinely check out the inspections, so every five years we televise everything,
- at least that's the idea, is everything in our system, and if there's ever any issues
- with the lining, then we make repairs accordingly, but generally we don't see many issues.
- We expect to get 60 to 80 years out of a liner, and that's generally what we've seen.
- The Board approved the request unanimously.
- The next Utilities Service Board meeting will be held on April 21st.
- And that is all for Cats Week.
- Thank you for joining us.
- For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.
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