- Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Martin O'Neill. The Monroe County Commissioners met on June 12th during public comment. Executive Director of People and Animal Learning Services, also known as PALS, Christine Herring, gave the commissioners an update on their recovery efforts following the tornado damage on May 16th. We've shored up our fencing. We're starting to return our horses to our facility.
- We've replaced our stock trailer, purchased new storage units, and replaced our run-in shelters. Most importantly, some of our programming will continue and resume in the very near future in our outdoor arena.
- Whereas it's too soon with the insurance process to know specific numbers, we are grateful to have stewarded funds well and have strong policies in place. This is our update for you and the community. I will be keeping you updated when there is more to know. And thank you for listening and thank you for standing with PALS as we recover, rebuild, and continue to serve this community. Thank you. Commissioner Jodi Madeira spoke in support of PALS, saying that it provides a unique resource to the community.
- My son and myself have both written at Pals and helped with fundraisers. And it's one of the gems of Bloomington. It's a facility that's unique, unlike many others. We're very privileged to have you guys here. So whatever we can do, please let us know. Thank you.
- Also speaking on tornado damage, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Natural Disaster Recovery and Resilience Public Affairs Specialist Stephen Clark shared information about the opportunities for physical disaster loans for people affected by the storm.
- I wanted to provide information at this meeting about the availability of SBA physical damage disaster loans specifically, which are a recovery resource available for homeowners, renters, private nonprofits, and small businesses which may have suffered damage from the severe storms and tornado on May 16th. Specifically, I would like to highlight that SBA has a disaster loan outreach center at Ivy Tech at 200 Daniels Way in room B
- This is open Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, and Saturday, 10 to 2. It will be closing permanently next Wednesday, June 18th at 3 p.m. We have trained, experienced, and friendly customer service representatives there who can assist disaster survivors with making applications for disaster loans in person at that location. Beyond being able to apply in person, you are able to apply online for these types of loans.
- And I guess most importantly, we do not want anyone to miss the physical damage disaster loan application deadline of July 29th. I've emailed the county information about this. I know it's being shared on your website, on the Facebook page of the Emergency Management Department, and this information is fairly widespread. If you do run into anyone who is in need of assistance, please feel free to give them my cell phone number or have them send me an email so I can point them in the right direction
- We don't want anyone to miss out because they lack information about what is available. I would like to add in our
- our program, loans are available before a person receives an insurance settlement. So we encourage disaster survivors do not wait to receive an insurance settlement. We don't want you to be in a position where you're applying past our application deadline, as we can fund a loan up to the extent of your uncompensated losses, up to our loan limits, which for homeowners are $500,000. For nonprofits and businesses, generally $2 million. And in addition, for the homeowners and renters, $100,000 of personal property.
- So if, say, a tree limb were to fall on your vehicle and you needed money for an insurance deductible or something like that. Later in the meeting, Highway Department Director Lisa Ridge asked the commissioners to approve two contracts with E&B Paving for road repaving projects. The roads are as follows that were included in this bid packet. John Young Road, Lower Bertagallion Road, Fleener Road, Shiloh Road,
- which is Coil Road to Anderson. The other piece of Shiloh was in our community crossings package, so actually the whole road of Shiloh will be done this year. Kings Road, Rock East Road, which is west of Mount Zion to Breeden Road, and then Elrond Road from State Road 45 to County Line, and then Flatwoods Road, which is Owen County Line to just where the town of Ellitsville takes over. The commissioners approved the two contracts unanimously.
- Ridge also asked them to approve a contract to replace a bridge located on Rora Road. She explained that the project isn't scheduled to begin construction until 2026. We anticipate a 2026 construction season for various reasons. The city has a project that we don't want to interfere with detour routes and such, and that's ongoing until around the 1st of August. And you can always expect delays on projects.
- and then also some permits and everything that will need to be obtained. And we didn't want to do the project and then run out of time and then the asphalt plant close over the winter. So we're gearing towards probably an April start for that project. The contract was approved unanimously.
- The Monroe County Council had a meeting on June 10. During public comment, Monroe County resident Seth Mutchler gave a response to the Long-Term Finance Committee meeting on June 6, explaining how the cap and debt allowance on local income tax revenue will affect incarceration in the county. I wanted to speak today also in response to the news from Friday's Long-Term Finance Planning Committee meeting, specifically the cap on debt allowance for local income tax revenue.
- I want to first acknowledge that SB1 has had an impact on, of course, all county residents, but it's also impacted your work and made your jobs as those responsible for fiscal management significantly harder. So I sympathize with you as you navigate these unexpected challenges. I do think, however, this specific component of SB1 has given us an opportunity to reconsider our county's approach to incarceration, criminal legal system, and the jail.
- As we are unable to finance the proposed new jail, I hope that you will reconsider renovation of the existing facility as a legitimate option that satisfies both the need for humane conditions in our jail and the need for a solution that fits within our new changing and rapidly changing fiscal needs. Now, I know that we've heard time and time again, the current jail is beyond repair, and I understand that's been said, but the facts and figures say otherwise.
- The 2020 criminal justice and incarceration study, which colloquially is referred to as the Kin-Ray study, which the county commissioned, estimated repair between 22 and $56 million. Now, admittedly, those are 2021 dollars, and Dr. Ray is not an architect, but in 2024, the county once again commissioned a study, this time by RQAW, a professional firm, and the cost of renovation was given as 58 to $67 million.
- They even provided an estimate of the cost of moving inmates during renovation, which adds only $16 million to that cost. Note that the bulk of these costs are for out-of-county housing at 258 inmates. If we reduced our jail population, that cost would go down. Now, I know we don't want to just do something because only it's the fiscally prudent move. We also need to make sure it's the right move, but I believe that it is. If we renovate the jail,
- and spend the remainder of the lit funds, which we would not need to take debt on and could disperse on an annual basis, I think it's the right move. During a department update, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, Jan Pearl, announced that a steel manufacturing company called Envoy is going to open a manufacturing facility in the old Otis Elevator plant. Director of marketing, Monica Vink, said that Envoy is a steel manufacturer in the telecom industry. She explained why they chose Monroe County
- for their expansion. We're a Canada based company who found the need to kind of land in the US as our customers are really pulling us here. We're a steel manufacturer in the telecom industry. So the easiest way to think about it is these devices require networks to make those happen. We manufacture all of the structures and the
- mounts and some of the other parts that put those networks up. So it's not an industry that's often thought about until those devices don't work. But we chose Bloomington because number one, it's geographically located for all of our customer base. We have a heavy customer base here in the Midwest, also in the South. We also have some great partners in Indianapolis and Louisville. So Bloomington is pleasantly right in the middle of all of that. So we're really thrilled for that.
- But really from the standpoint of just workforce development, with the universities here, we have an engineering side to our business that is really important to the steel manufacturing.
- So with Indiana University, Purdue, you know, closely located, that's a great pull from the engineering side. And then also with Ivy Tech on the trade side, I think that's a great resource for us as well. So we found a home in kind of an underutilized space in the Phoenix packaging facility. They've been gracious to open that up for us and it's a great fit for our operation. So we're really looking forward to kind of getting up and going there. We're anticipating between 50 and 100
- jobs over the next couple of years. And really telecom, if you look at those projections, the infrastructure and the funding right now from this administration has been great. Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, is a great supporter of this industry. So we're seeing a lot of positives in terms of the growth over the next five to 10 years within telecom. So lots of positives, you know, in light of all of that. So we're really looking forward to that. Excited to be here in Bloomington. The council praised the incoming business, highlighted
- its efforts in aiding the redevelopment of the county. Later in the meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Whitmer asked the Council for their permission to allocate funds for the park's non-reverting budget to construct water diverting measures around the Cost Farm Park soccer fields.
- We have a big project at Cars Farm Park. You probably know about it. We're putting in synthetic fields and improving drainage and irrigation in athletic lights. Well, during this time, oh, I don't know, a few months back, we had a few big storms and we actually have a railroad track right next to these fields. And on the other side of the railroad tracks is a farm field owned by the Monroe County Airport. And they were in the middle of doing an erosion control
- project, but it was not completed or hardly started, and all the water came under the culverts under the railroad and hit our project. Unfortunately, but fortunately, all the engineers decided that we needed to upgrade how we move water, how we move sediment, and putting in a sediment basin pond. I won't say pond, it's a little thing of mud.
- but I've talked to the airport and we've also talked to Monroe County Stormwater and they're involved in the project too. So the airport is doing what Stormwater wants, we are doing what Stormwater wants, but it costs money to do both sides and I believe the fairest thing is that we'll take care of everything on our side of the tracks and they will take care of everything on their side of the tracks and it will prevent
- water and mud coming onto the brand new turf fields. So fast forward, the park board, they did approve, they want to spend our money out of non-reverting. So I'm asking for additional 80,000 to spend out of our non-reverting accounts. I'm not asking you for a penny, just permission to spend the money that we already have. We have 20,000 appropriated right now on contractual plus 80,
- equals $100,000. This project's actually gonna be $114,000, but we'll find it from other means to pay for it. So any questions about water or mud? Councilmember Kit Wills says she is happy to hear that the Parks Department worked with the other county departments to find a solution to the problem. It's gratifying to hear something I think presented as, wow, we had this big problem happen
- But hang tight, we've got a solution and we're figuring it out. And so I really appreciate that, especially cooperating with the other departments and having them involved. So I think this is a no-brainer. The council voted to approve the appropriation of funds unanimously. The Aletsville Redevelopment Commission met on June 9th. They began by discussing a letter sent by their auditor, Baker Tilley, regarding the Riverfront and Westside allocation areas.
- The letter says that if there is an extra assessed value that will go to other tax groups, it has to be sorted out by June 15th each year. This is a letter to all the overlapping tax units that is due. Every redevelopment commission by June 15th every year has to identify what taxes, if there's any excess assessed value that's going to be allocated to the overlapping taxing units.
- by June 15th every year, and it's the auditor's job to make sure that it's done. So the auditor contacted the town, and Baker-Tilley put together a letter, which I will read in its entirety of the record. This is in reference to the riverfront allocation and west side allocation area. Dear Monroe County Auditor, Town of Ellesville County Council, and all of our lab and the taxing units in accordance with Indiana Code 36-7-14-39B5,
- The Commissioner is to approve the pass-through letter unanimously.
- Next, the Commission discussed a resolution to correct mistakes found in the legal description and parcel numbers for the downtown economic development area. Developer Binyam Fanyo and the Auditor's Office recommended that the Commission hold another hearing to make sure that the public understands the changes. I did hear from the Auditor's Office, literally about, look back for four o'clock today, the auditor that's working on this for the RDC.
- had an opportunity to look at Baker-Tilley's revised map with the parcel numbers and the revised legal. And they are in agreement with, I think Baker, I mean, not Baker-Tilley, Biden-Fanio and the Auditor's Office are now in agreement as to what's what in terms of parcel numbers and legal description. So typically, under the code,
- If there's an amendment to a declaratory or confirming a confirmatory resolution, the redevelopment commission can amend it and it's required to follow the same procedure that it followed when it approved the declaratory resolution. In other words, amendment is passed by the RDC, goes to the planning commission, goes to the council, comes back to the RDC. I feel comfortable
- recommending that you do not have to do that in this particular situation after conferring a little more with the auditor and buying a family because the purpose of doing an amendment and having a public hearing and starting all over is for situations when you are expanding the area, you're expanding the TIP area, you're adding parcels, you're deleting parcels, you're changing the purpose of the TIP and you're changing the economic development plan.
- It's for you decided, for example, as you get into the tip that there's property in there that you want to acquire from in the domain, maybe. Or have the town council acquire it for you by in the domain. You're not doing any of that. All we're doing is we're making sure that the personal numbers and the legal descriptions that were in the confirmatory resolution that you passed in February are aligning with each other. The commission will vote on the resolution at their next meeting.
- During the commission comments portion of the meeting, Commissioner Tom Kornman expressed that he wanted to make the time more welcoming in order to encourage people to move to Ellitsville. I love the idea of encouraging activity in Ellitsville and around Ellitsville to get people walking and meeting each other on the trails and doing some of that stuff and that. So anything we can do to progress that along, I think that's a positive for the
- For the kids, the students, the schools, the people that want to move here, it becomes another attraction of why you want to move to Ellitsville. They've got these great trails and these things set up for us to use and utilize. The next Ellitsville Redevelopment Commission will be held on June 23rd. At their meeting on June 9th, the Ellitsville Town Council heard an ordinance that would require the council to either recertify or redraw the legislative body districts of the town.
- As written, the ordinance was set to simply recertify the districts as population had not changed drastically according to the most recent census. Council President Scott Oldham asked whether the council could redistrict on their own in the next five years if an annexation occurred. Time attorney Darla Brine confirmed that redistricting can be done at any time. So what happens if we have an annexation that all of a sudden during the middle of the next five years
- makes us very lopsided. Can we redistrict on our own, petition the state to redistrict? I think you can redistrict any time you want to, actually. Okay. All right. That answers that question. You're just required to do it after every census. Sure. Right. The council voted to pass the ordinance unanimously. During privilege on the floor, Carl Thurmond from the Thurmond Body Shop addressed the council in reference to recent flooding, asking whether the second and third phases of the flood mitigation project will begin.
- Town manager Mike Farmer said that the installation of storm culverts under the McNeely Street Bridge would help to mitigate flooding. But since the bridge is owned by the county, the town council has no direct control over it. Local business owner Chad Stevens also addressed the council about flooding around the McNeely Street Bridge. I've seen a lot happen down at the corner of Matthews and McNeely when it comes to flooding. I fought them for years.
- Usually don't say much, but after watching a dozen of my guys work their butts off cleaning up after this flood from early Sunday morning, I just can't take it no more. I gotta come up and say something. So I'm here to say something about in 2017, you all had a report built by DNR
- And as of now, we only have like one section of this done. And we all know, we all should know that the McNeely Street Bridge is the biggest culprit in flooding in Ellsville. In this report, it said it did need some more study, but in this report, it did say something about putting culverts at McNeely Street Bridge.
- I understand that Elksville has no, you know, has no authority over McNeely Street, but something's got to be done. I took on 21 inches of water early Sunday morning with the same amount of rain that fell Thursday morning, three and a half inches, and it didn't flood down there, but Sunday, sorry. But a Sunday morning, I couldn't get down there to fight it fast enough.
- And I took on 21 inches of water, toolboxes, tools, equipment. And I firmly believe that these culverts that should be, well, I mean, a new bridge would be great, but I firmly believe that these culverts put in in either street would have most likely mitigated every bit of that water from flooding in there. 15 minutes.
- 15 minutes from when I checked the cameras and everything was okay by the time I got there and I had six inches of water in the building, I couldn't pick up stuff fast enough. And it was 21 inches, two and a half blocks deep. All day. I couldn't even go down there yesterday and work on it. I was just sick of my stomach. So today, a dozen people worked on it all day and it's still not done. It's still not clean. All day. Tools lost and morale's down and I'm not happy.
- So I'd like to see something done, whatever force we can put behind getting these culverts in on McNeely Street, because that will help this flooding, no doubt. I have land on both sides of that creek, and I would be willing and very willing to remove a lot of the fill that's on the land east of Jack's Defeat.
- to help mitigate some of that and get direction into those culverts. So just wanted to come up here and say my piece about getting that, getting pressure. Like I said, I don't know where we stand with what can be done with Monroe County, but I would appreciate all the effort we could pushing forward to getting those culverts put in because I am tired of seeing water.
- Oldham emphasized the Council's lack of control over the McNeely Bridge once again, but assured Stevens that the Council would do everything in their power to stress the issue to the county. And that's all for Cats Week. Thanks for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Martin O'Neill.