- Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Monroe County Commissioners met on August 14th. Health Department Director Lori Kelly asked the commissioners to approve a contract for the rental of an Ivy Tech classroom to be used for a point of dispensing training. Points of dispensing are locations used to dispense medications or other supplies during an emergency. President Julie Thomas emphasized the importance of the training.
- one of the key issues going on right now at the federal level relates to this kind of thing where if there's an emergency, how do we get medications out quickly? How do we get them developed quickly if it's bioterrorism? Or if it's a disease that spread quickly, how do we do it? And we've just lost half a billion dollars in funding for
- RNA vaccine research, which could save lives. And it is so disheartening and sorry to take a moment from your.
- planning in your good time here, but thank you so much. During the meeting, Senior Planner Drew Myers from the Planning Department presented an ordinance concerning the rezoning of a portion of land along Hunter Valley Road owned by milestone contractors in order to add a historic preservation overlay. The land occupies about 11 acres and would be used to exhibit historic quarry landscape. President Thomas thanked the petitioner, Packing House Road LLC for their work.
- I just want to give a shout out to this petitioner, because they wanted to do something, i.e. use the site for Phil, that a lot of us were not very keen on, and what they've done elsewhere for their petition dealing with
- and the testing of the fill and all of those and the groundwater and the springs and everything else, which is great, they did this. And this is a gift to the community. And it may be that some of this equipment does end up in the Corey Park with the remainder of what we think is going to be an outdoor limestone history exhibit.
- So it's very exciting. And we really appreciate the way this petitioner worked with us to make a fill site palatable. So good for them. The commissioners voted to approve the ordinance. President Thomas made several announcements at the end of the meeting, including acknowledging the Monroe County Veterans Office and the Rural Housing Repair Program. Monroe County Veterans Office
- is hosting a veterans-only event called Stand Down to assist veterans with housing, employment, healthcare, and other types of support. This event will be held at Monroe County Convention Center on Wednesday, August 20th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit the Monroe County Veterans Affairs Office located at 214 West 7th Street, or you can call them at 812-349-25
- in the city of Bloomington, and that is 337. The rural housing repair program continues, but it is being managed by the Bloomington Foundation. If you need if you live in your home and you need outside the city Bloomington, you need repairs on basic necessities roofs,
- Please contact your Township Trustee and they will assist you with the application process. Also at the meeting, Commissioner Jody Madeira addressed a controversy surrounding a recently published article in the Herald Times in which residents claim to have been displaced because of a donation of land to the Monroe County Nature Preserve. If the property was actually not given to the county for the benefit of the taxpayers and was developed, the residents would have actually had to leave anyways.
- They would not have had the opportunity for generous notice. They would actually have not received the free rent that was referenced in the Herald Times. And the taxpayers of the county would have been complaining a great deal more about abominably different traffic patterns, and the community would have lost the benefit of hundreds of acres of nature preserve.
- The rent the residents are paying of $700 and $400 isn't enough to pay insurance for the property, let alone to pay for the substantial repairs the tenants have requested, like tens of thousands of dollars in substantial repairs, new windows. The county has a responsibility to use taxpayer funds in the highest and best use. They cannot use taxpayer funds to subsidize the residents' stay. This puts the county in a catch-22. It's damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.
- Our duty as elected officials is to all taxpayers. The situation is very sympathetic and the county has been as generous as it can. So actually I'm taking this opportunity, a matter of personal privilege, to address this matter so that if you are bothered by the situation, like the 30 people who reached out to me, I'm sorry, but the county, that's basically the material that did not make it into the story.
- And unfortunately, sometimes our duty as elected officials is to make the hard choices. And this choice was an easy one for us to make. We took the property in trust to use it for the benefit of taxpayers. We will all have the beautiful property to walk on and to enjoy for generations. And unfortunately, hard choices had to be made, but those choices would have had to be made under any eventuality. And so in other words, here there was no choice at all. The Monroe County commissioners will meet again on August 21st.
- The Monroe County Council met on August 12th. The meeting began with discussions concerning property tax levy limits and property tax caps. County Treasurer Kathy Smith explained that there will be changes to how the county is allowed to collect taxes. Smith said that she expects this to be confusing for members of the public and said that she anticipates needing to set aside time to explain the changes to the taxpayers.
- who wholly on their house without a mortgage, you usually come in and pay their own taxes and they're sort of used to the format. It's been stable since the 2010 that I was talking about when they changed the welfare took welfare off our rules and the other things.
- So most of those people are seasoned now and back then I held, Marty probably remembers this, I held these meetings where you'd come in and I'd go over each person's individual taxes with them. But now they're so dependent upon these tax credits that it's really gonna take our two organizations working together. And I tell you this because the timing, the time that it's gonna take to do all this is gonna increase tremendously. And that's gonna put a burden not just on our offices but on your guys' budget.
- This is kind of fair warning that this is going to happen as as Jeff and Brie can tell you it's been hard to even navigate what they want and what they what they're requesting and what they're demanding, especially.
- is going to be more difficult to explain that to the average taxpayer when we're struggling sometimes to understand it as well. Council member Marty Hawk explained how recent changes in the property tax caps will affect both the public and the county in general. I think it's very important that we at least acknowledge to the public and to all these taxing units that's being majorly affected the difference in the
- property tax circuit breaker. Now what this means is actually is good news for the taxpayer, because what is a loss to the county revenue library like revenue and all these other units revenue is actually going and helping out the taxpayers so that their tax bill will not be as great.
- Our estimated amount for just for Monroe County government is $1,757,600. And so that is a gigantic increase. The difference between those is between what we'd had last year. I'm sitting here on the sheet is a million five. And same as with the city, the city saw a major change
- Their circuit breaker is estimated to be $1,589,700. And that change for them is $1,400,000, approximately. Now, we might say that, generally speaking, DLGF is very conservative in the numbers and would maybe put in those numbers higher.
- just so they don't make a mistake and get it set too low. But in speaking with others today, I think this actually was a little less than what we had anticipated it would be. So I think we would be amiss if we didn't at least mention this to the public.
- and to the press so they can get the news out to the public. Council discussion later moved on to an update on the Monroe County Jail. An attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union, Kenneth Falk, reiterated his view that the county jail needs to be rebuilt. He shared a summary of his history of involvement with the lawsuit against the jail's current condition. In 2008, I filed the lawsuit, which is still around.
- Richardson versus Marion County Sheriff and Marion County Commissioners. The allegations are simple, that the conditions in the jail involving overcrowding, violence, lack of exercise, environmental problems, all violate the constitutional rights of the prisoners. The Constitution doesn't require much when it comes to prisoners. It doesn't
- required the writs or anything fancy, it requires the minimal level of life's necessities, is what the standard is. And the lawsuit simply asked that the prisoners be housed constitutionally. The case was certified as a class action, meaning that we represent all the prisoners in the jail. We hired an expert who was the former commissioner, Ed Cohn, commissioner of the Department of Correction. He did a tour. He concluded that construction of a new jail is necessary because of the many deficits in the facility.
- We later then in 2009 entered into what's called a private settlement agreement, which is basically a contract to keep the jail population low and to provide recreation. We provided in the contract that the rated capacity is 278, but this is just a number of beds. And as you all undoubtedly know, correctional experts recognize that the jail becomes overcrowded
- at about 80% of the number of beds because at that point it is impossible to do any sort of classification. Everyone has recognized since that time that you need a new jail. The agreement we had was set to expire in 2011, but we have renewed it ever since every year while the county has moved towards building a new facility. I know that you have done other studies and surveys
- And they all agree the jail is outdated. It's dangerous. It's not a proper place to house people, whether it be 10 people or 100 people. It's extremely staff intensive. There isn't room and it's falling apart. And I'm sure you've heard from the sheriff as to that. Falk said that while he is not a fan of putting people in jail, he does recognize the need for humane conditions for those who are incarcerated.
- In June of 2021, the Monroe County Indiana Criminal Justice and Incarceration Study was issued by you had hired and paid for experts who concluded, not surprisingly, that a new jail is necessary. The jail facility, and I'm quoting from the report, is incapable of ensuring and sustaining constitutional levels of inmate care and custody.
- Falk further elaborated that in his most recent visit to the facility, the jail looked good, but the infrastructure was past its expiration date. Following the attorney's updates, Council President Crossley questioned if the lawsuit would be extended. Falk responded. It can be extended if we all agreed to it being extended. And the reason we have extended it all these years is that it was felt by the county
- persons who I deal with, that it's very useful for everyone concerned to have a cap, even though it's too high, and to have some requirements, and that it is a motivating force to move forward to try and solve the problem permanently. It was not meant, the private settlement agreement, was not meant to be a permanent solution, obviously.
- Later in the meeting, Monroe County Veterans Service Officer and Director of Monroe County Veterans Affairs Steve Miller announced the opening of a new Veterans Affairs Clinic that will replace two clinics that are in town at the moment. Right now, the VA is saying that they're going to open the new clinic on September 15th. So, very exciting news. It's going to be a VA-owned and operated clinic.
- going to replace both of the two clinics that we have in town right now. Right now there's a discrete mental health clinic on Arch Haven and then on Liberty is the primary care clinic and that will all move under one roof which should give greater access to veterans and their families to all the services that are available by the VA clinic.
- The council then took up discussion of Cimtro Biopharma Solutions' request for a tax abatement in connection with their plans to extend their operations in Bloomington and Monroe County. County Attorney Jeff Cockerill presented the deliberations the company has had with the county. I think you're all aware that
- Cimtra has bought the former GE site. And I know some of you have toured the facility with me and we have gotten requests for tax abatement for that site as well as a kind of revamp, a request to revamp kind of an old abatement that they received I believe last year. And the goal of the company is to clearly
- um utilize that building in a in manufacturing and and those kind of ways uh the goal of the county is to have them utilize the the facility and manufacturing in those ways as well as employee people get a wages at a at a at a good level and so and they they've made a request for what i like to call an augmented abatement they've requested that we
- historically have done the standard state level of essentially starting with 100% knocking off 10% each year and then the year 10 it goes down to zero right so or actually year 11 it goes down to zero. So we've been having some really good talks with the company. I think they've been very
- very willing to work with us, willing to talk to us and trying to figure out how to kind of accomplish all our goals and so we've been in discussions with them about how to do that and I think the kind of where we're heading is to have at different areas of time performance evaluations and adding
- equipment and getting the employment in the former GE site which has been a goal of the county for at least 10 well since it's closed but at least the last 10 years really looking at that it's to get that back into productivity and and having employment and having wage earning in in that facility. The county council will meet again on August 13th.
- The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on August 12. The board approved the lane closure extension requests on North Lincoln Street, East 19th Street, 17th Street, and North Washington Street. Engineering Department Public Improvement Manager Maria McCormick presented the request.
- We have added that they as a condition of the permit That they provide 24-hour notice to any of the residences before a driveway Or access to and property is blocked they will be
- Having to go through the roads again and lay Sanitary as they did with the water and the storms so there will be access cut off temporarily for houses along the The roads as they are laying the as they are putting the pipes in the ground obviously So they are required to do 24-hour notice by posting
- Notice on the doors and we will also be providing an email list with landlord contacts for them with hand and then in the south link or in the North Lincoln phase of the Storm sewer or the sanitary sewer installation We're asking that they hold off on rock hammering in just the Lincoln Street portion until after 8 a.m
- During public comment on the lane closures, resident Natasha Kim raised a concern over parking availability on North Lincoln Street, saying her driveway access will likely be blocked off. Some of the things I'd like to raise a concern about is the parking situation. When we don't have parking, there's an issue with finding parking around, especially as residents move in, because we're right next to Evolve Bloomington, which has a lot of
- On-campus residents. It hasn't been so bad right now since people aren't on campus right now But once people are on campus, there's going to be nowhere to park So we'd like a spot maybe Where we can like guarantee parking? Promise through your lease or anything. I
- Yes, our driveway, but that will when that is blocked. Yeah, so we have systems in place for when the driveways are going to be blocked that they'll make sure that they have notice and They're not going to be fully restricted from their driveways. It's only during we've been fully restricted As the next phase goes forward general contract developer for wells and wells construction Jesse Graber responded to the public comment and detailed the challenges regarding how the construction will impact driveway accessibility
- What they've experienced has we had four main storm sewer structures one in each corner of that intersection that intersection has been.
- the biggest challenge for the storm infrastructure upgrade. So we are intercepting the sewer in that intersection and placing a manhole. So there will be one day where there will be no access to that driveway. It will be towards the end of the project because we will actually start at 19th and Washington and work uphill. So it would
- be probably towards the end of this month or maybe the first week of September, there will be about a 24-hour period of time where there will be a manhole set right in that intersection. When that's done, we give you new asphalt and we are out of your way. But it'll be graded out a lot nicer than what it is now.
- Yeah, understanding that was a big work in process and we appreciate your patience on that. The board unanimously approved the lane closure extension requests. The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on August 26th. The Ellisville Town Council met on Monday, August 11th. Town attorney Dollar Brown explained the first reading of the meeting, which was an ordinance imposing a wheel tax and motor vehicle license excise tax.
- There's an ordinance on first reading this evening, which is Ordinance 2025-18, imposing a wheel tax and motor vehicle license excise tax. I was asked to create this ordinance, and as you are likely aware, if the town wants to get local road and bridges matching grant funds, you are going to be required to pass a wheel tax, and you can't
- just pass a wheel tax. You also have to pass what's called the Motor Vehicle License XI Surtax. And so you can pass it in one ordinance if you want, pass them simultaneously. So that is the purpose of this ordinance is to establish a wheel tax fund and Motor Vehicle License XI Surtax fund. Under the Indiana Code, you have some choices and some leeway.
- with regard to how much you can charge or want to charge. The wheel tax is essentially for commercial vehicles and it's $5 to $40. The motor vehicle license excise surtax is essentially for passenger vehicles and it's $7.50 to $25. I was asked to set the tax
- for the wheel tax at $5, and I was asked to set the municipal surtax at $15, so it's going to be a total of $20. Paige Sansone from Baker-Tilley calculated how much the town would make at $5 and $15, and she estimated the town would earn just under $90,000.
- The council deliberated on the wheel tax and ultimately concluded that they need to pass it in order to receive the community crossing grant, which averages $250,000 a year. Not passing it would result in the inability to repair the town's roads.
- In relation to the adoption of the wheel tax, council member Scott Oldham criticized Senate Bill 1 claiming that the fiscal cuts from the state have resulted in an increase of local taxes and layoffs. I'm very hesitant to criticize other governments, but tonight's going to be one of those nights. SB 1 was passed by the Indiana House, Senate, and signed by the governor. It is essentially
- For want of a better word, an elaborate bait and switch. Whereas the state is going to drop your taxes, and then it's going to tell the localities, the locals, you have to raise the taxes. So did you actually gain anything? You did not. But it makes the state people feel like they've done their good deed. And I'm going to tell you all folks this. This will not be the last of these things that see as being forced upon us by the state of Indiana.
- We could choose not to do that in which case your services will have to be cut and there will be layoffs from town personnel and No one wants to do that So that's why we're trying to keep everything as low as we can just to keep moving on until the state sees its good graces To do something about the travesty that they that they passed this will bankrupt several counties in several cities or towns and
- We have yet to even see the beginning of the iceberg. So we are trying to be a little proactive and hopefully not push any more pain down the road than we have to. But the state didn't think this out. And all they turn around and says, well, locals, you can do this, this, this, and this. And we're going to have to be the bad guys just to survive. This is not about adding. This is not about adding a dime to the coffers of the town. This is about making back a little bit about what the state's going to take away. And we're going to be very lucky if we make it through the next four or five years.
- without being so far behind that it's gonna be almost impossible to grow to catch up. Council member William Ellis further commented on the adoption of the Wheel Tax, explaining that he is open to suggestions on any alternative methods for funding the Community Crossing Grant. To the public watching this, if you're really against the Wheel Tax, I'm open to suggestions on where we can get the funding from. Because we're in a situation where no is just not an answer.
- I mean, I know I'm probably missing something. Any of these council members you can come to and say, hey, did you think about this source or that source? But we can't just say no. And then in the winter, you're going to be saying, as Scott said, why is there six inches of snow on my road? Well, because we listen to you. But this is a hard decision we're going to have to make. None of us are happy with it. The next Ellisville town council meeting will take place on August 25th.
- The Bloomington City Council held a committee on council processes meeting on August 11th. The committee discussed introducing a five minute time limit for each presentation during reports for regular council meetings. By establishing a time limit for reports, the hope is that the overall time spent in city council meetings might be reduced. Council member Matt Flaherty pointed out that since the council has a 20 minute time limit for all reports, it is not clear to individuals
- how long they are allowed to present for. Flaherty suggested ways that they can set expectations for more concise reports in the future. I've kind of been a fan of, like, we tend to just extend the 20-minute section for each of those portions, like, as long as we like at any time. And that's part of the kind of, like, creep of,
- uh, that section of the agenda that I think should be more assiduously managed. Uh, I don't think it is common and maybe this has changed under under current council leadership, but I don't think it's common that, uh, the board and commission members or, you know, uh, city department heads often know that they are expected to fit within a certain timeframe where they think they have 20 minutes, but it turns out there's actually two or three reports from the, you know, opposite there are folks in the mayor's administration and like, they really should have had, you know, seven or 10 and we've got questions, all that. And so
- kind of managing all that is an important part of administering that portion of the agenda. Council Member Matt Flaherty, Council Administrator and Attorney Lisa Lehner, and Council Member Isabel Piedmont-Smith discussed if the time limit would be altered depending on how many reports were being presented on a given night. Lehner asked for the limits to be applied in a uniform fashion. We've not published a written rule to that effect.
- and that might help support enforcing a time limit. We're in the process of updating Council's website too, and that may be one type of rule that could be placed on Council's website. Presentations to Council, time limits,
- That might be helpful in educating the public to understand why those limits exist, because otherwise, you easily can have four hour meetings with an hour and a half of reports. Ultimately, the committee decided to officially vote on the matter at the next council meeting. The next city council processes meeting will take place on September 8th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.
- Yeah.