- Welcome to Cats Creek. I'm Annaliese Poorman. The Monroe County Board of Health met on August 21st. The meeting began with board members finalizing legislation for their public comment policy. Chairperson Aurora Diorio explained the new policy. So if you are in the room and you are going to make a comment,
- you will need to put your legal name on the paper that's in the back of the room to indicate that you would like to be heard. There still is a three minute time limit for comments. Public comment to items not on the agenda because as our new policy states, we are now going to hear public comment before we vote.
- on an item, so if there's an agenda item you're particularly interested in, you will have an opportunity to say something after we have discussed it, but before we vote on it. Public comment must be relevant to the topic. It must be on a topic that is in the responsibility of the Monroe County Board of Health, and abusive, disrespectful comments will be deemed out of order
- as well as if the commenter is not addressing themselves to the chair of the board. So we don't want any comments about individual staff members or individual board members. We really love comment on issues. If you want to comment online, you may raise your hand during this public comment period for anything that does not appear on the agenda.
- and we will alternate online public commenters with those in the room. Then manager of coordinated school health, Lisa Greathouse for IU Health Bloomington Hospital presented her departmental update. She explained the progress that her department has made in order to meet their goals with the schools. So within trauma and injury prevention, our goal was to host 10 CPR classes for
- staff personnel. In the education setting, some of the roles are required to maintain certification, while others just have to be certified in order to renew their teaching license. So making sure they have ample opportunities to get those when needed. The next one is regarding maternal and child health. So we are able with the funds to the health department
- to offer the middle school safe sitter course at no charge to students. So students going into or in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, we teach them about CPR or not CPR. Choking safety, first aid, safety at home for themselves, but also when they're in care of another child, as well as the business side of maybe earning a few dollars here and there while watching somebody else's kids.
- And that course was specifically created because an adult caregiver did not know what to do when they were watching another kid and the kid choked and unfortunately passed away. So we've been doing that class for quite some time.
- really, really excited that we're able to provide that at no cost to the middle schoolers in our county as well. And then the last one is regarding tobacco and vaping prevention and cessation opportunities. We can never talk enough around the harms, the dangers, the marketing, the manipulation strategies right to the kids, so they feel empowered to make those healthy choices for themselves now and in the future.
- So we are able to partner with some schools to offer that opportunity. And for the most part, we stick to the third grade and the fifth grade, as well as supporting the health educators to make sure it's happening in fifth, eighth, and as well. So doing well so far, just need to host one more safe sitter course in order to meet those initial goals. But I'm already in the progress of setting those dates with some schools.
- Health administrator Lori Kelly went on to discuss how the county funded health first programs have implemented stricter eligibility requirements. The board members expressed their frustration with this new Indiana law that resulted in two individuals being turned away from county resources due to their documentation and citizenship status. About what they expect partially due to the fact that we tend to be a very
- blue community and therefore more likely to be looked at with a very fine magnifying glass as to how well we are following the eligibility requirements required by this legislation. So we've been put under much stricter requirements by our attorneys
- than many of the surrounding counties. In fact, most of the counties in the state. And I don't know if that helps you at all, Kay, but we are definitely being asked to do a great deal of documentation. And we were talking before the meeting, Lori and I were telling that,
- how we might expedite some of that because most people are not carrying around their birth certificate and whether there are ways that we can help people get the proper documentation that they need in order to participate in community events. Is that helpful at all? Well, I just would hate to see anybody turned away from a program we're trying to.
- And they're interested in taking it. And they will because of the state. And we have no choice. We have absolutely no choice. My concern is much more with vaccinations and people that need to get vaccinated to protect the entire community and now who cannot.
- because of this law. Diorio explained a new decision from IU Health that will shift the responsibilities of communicable disease case investigation, TB follow-up and vaccinations to the Monroe County Board of Health. She elaborated that IU Health has terminated their contract with Monroe County as of January 1st. The Board of Health will now retain the funds that were previously provided to IU Health and carry out these responsibilities.
- IU Health has decided they want to expand their community health efforts, make them more regionally based, and they didn't feel that maintaining the contract to do these services, the communicable disease case investigation, the TB follow-up, the vaccinations on our behalf was consistent with their new
- So they informed us two weeks ago that as of January 1st, they will not be doing that work for us on a contractual basis. The next Board of Health meeting will take place on September 18th. The Monroe County Commissioners met on August 21st. Health Department Director Lori Kelly issued an update reporting more than 10 cases of infant deaths due to unsafe sleeping conditions across the state.
- As of August 19th, emergency department visits for COVID-like illness have continued to increase and wastewater concentrations are also continuing to trend upwards. The Indiana Department of Health has learned of more than 10 infant deaths related to unsafe sleep in the month of August. As a reminder, the health department offers free safe sleep training and resources.
- Individuals can call 812-349-2075 for more information. An agreement between the County Women's Commission and the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering to provide middle schoolers with a camp that would allow students to develop website design and STEM skills was approved by the commissioners. County Attorney Molly Turner King provided the details. What's before you today is
- understanding between the board of commissioners and the trustees of IU to allow our women's commission to partner with the Luddy school to provide a website design camp for middle schoolers that will allow them to have firsthand experience and apply some STEM skills.
- I'm sorry. The Women's Commission's role in this camp will be they'll serve as camp ambassadors, so they interact with the campers, support, enthusiasm, and then they will be organizing the end of the camp ceremony. And IU will be providing curriculum, volunteers, site location, pretty much the rest of the camp. Yeah. Got it. Thank you. Comments or questions, Commissioner Medeira? And just to clarify, I believe this camp will be open to students of all genders. Correct.
- Yes, and this is a summer camp, correct? I think their idea is to do it in the fall. But we would have to work with Luddy and the Women's Commission to agree upon dates. Finally, during announcements, Commissioner's Administrator Angie Purdy described the current conditions at the Justice Center, which she said resulted in the accumulation of mold and fungal spores. So just to kind of recap,
- everyone to understand where we're at with the Justice Building. We actually have been dealing with damp, wet conditions within that facility for a while this year. There's been a lot of activity trying to get the humidity down and things of that nature. And as the humidity was high and as we had water
- leaking from the duct work. It just made a perfect environment for mold. And so this all kind of came to a head at the beginning of August. And at that time,
- the maintenance at the justice building reached out and asked if we could have some mold testing conducted by vet environmental on the third floor. We did that while we were doing that, we heard from the second floor, the prosecutor's office that they had concerns. So that was also approved to get those, have that testing done. So initially for the third floor, the results were, let me see if I actually have it,
- but it was based on, and I'm taking this from a report that I got from Vet Environmental, based on observations and analytical results, mold was present on surfaces, sampled on the third floor of the building, one indoor air sample exhibited elevated levels of the airborne aspergillus penicillium spores. However, total fungi levels for all indoor air samples were reported as acceptable. So we got that report, we had every intention of
- continue to go forward and fogging that space during that time. So we received that report on August 11th, on August 15th, that environmental contacted our maintenance manager at the justice building and advised that there was a fungal spore in one of the offices in the justice building and that that fungal spore, I'm not even gonna try to say his name, it's like,
- We were advised that the occupant of that office
- just to be safe that the two adjoining offices should also vacate. The Justice Center closed on August 19th and reopened on the 21st after the conclusion of disruptive mold repair. Follow-up testing has started with the results expected back early next week. The Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees met on Wednesday, August 20th. Library Director Greer Carson discussed the Southwest Branch roundabout updates during his monthly report.
- Construction of the Gordon Pike roundabout was completed earlier this month after a challenging few months of dicey one-way traffic in and out of the southwest branch. While the Gordon Fullerton connection is still under construction, southwest patrons can now more easily access our branch. We'd like to thank all of our southwest patrons and visitors for their patience these past few months. As we know, it's been a challenge.
- Carson said that the library discovered that there was a ransomware attack on their servers in July and are taking actions to remediate the situation. On July 4th, we suffered a ransomware attack that compromised parts of our network, including several servers and workstations.
- The breach was discovered on July 6th, and our IT team swiftly took action to contain the threat. Attackers exploited access through our firewall using VPN. We have since disabled the affected VPN access, changed administrator passwords, and restored critical systems from our July 3rd backup specifically. Affected servers and workstations, including some staff computers, were evaluated to determine if they'd been compromised, and where appropriate, have been wiped and or replaced. The aim of the attack appears to have been
- to encrypt data rather than to steal data.
- We reached out to Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who in turn passed our report to the Multistate Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is part of the State Center for Internet Security. We also contacted the FBI to report the incident. We have since reviewed all staff computers and addressed all machines that had files encrypted by the attack. We are currently reviewing our security policies to see if there are other precautions we can take to prevent future attacks. We are also continuing to monitor
- our network and workstations for any residual risks. Thank you to Ned Baugh and our IT department for moving rapidly to stop this attack and to remediate the impact. Carson also shared that library staff members will be presenting at the upcoming Indiana Library Federation annual conference. We are very proud to be sending multiple MTPL staff this
- year to the ILF, or Indiana Library Federation Annual Conference, to give presentations. These respective presentations will focus on readers' advisory as a means to expanding readers' horizons, and on how MCPL manages the challenges associated with pest infestations, including policy, procedure, and patron communication. And yes, that does include bedbugs, a threat which more and more public libraries face every day. We, of course, developed a very robust mitigation program and are eager to share our success
- with peer libraries at ILF this year. Later in the meeting, the board held a final vote on the hours of operation for the downtown library branch. This decision comes after Senate Bill 1 was passed, which reduced the library's budget. Carson summarized the discussions they have had on the decision leading up to the vote. Before we put this matter to a vote, I'll try to briefly summarize the proposal and some of the discussion we've had to date.
- So Indiana Senate Bill 1 will result in MCPL receiving between $350,000 and $400,000 less in property tax revenue each year over the next three years. Beyond that, we don't yet have projected revenue numbers. We began looking at options for absorbing this revenue reduction early in the year.
- From the start, our goal has been to adopt a strategy that which would have the least negative impact on the least number of library patrons and library staff. Those options included a reduction in the overall number of staff, a reduction in operating hours across the system, a reduction in collection spending, postponing facilities maintenance and improvement projects, and reducing overall staff compensation and benefits. And looking at our current staffing model, we recognize that we could reduce overall staffing by the equivalent of five full-time positions over the next two years,
- which would achieve the goal of absorbing the revenue reduction. We also realized we could do this by way of attrition rather than having to implement layoffs. Board member Kathy Lozier expressed her support for the reduced hours option. I just want to say that I think that it's commendable that we want to move toward a decision that doesn't lay off people because I think that we are a good employer and I think we put that first because that equals good service to the patrons as well.
- So I think it's the best option for us right now. The board voted unanimously to approve the reduced hours at the downtown branch.
- the Richland Bean Blossom School Board met on August 19th. RBB business manager, Paul Flederer, addressed the board discussing how the school's operation budget may not continue to receive its usual 4% annual increase in the coming years. This development coupled with various other budget losses will mean that the operation budget must be used more frugally. I mean, folks,
- You tell me in operations what goes down in cost every year. What goes down? I sat down today for about 20 minutes and I just went through that fund and I wrote down things that go up and it's all of it. Utilities, insurance, you name it, price of buses, transportation costs, it all goes up practically every year.
- And so here's a fund that we're going to get into. So it's going to be a challenge going forward, how to handle that. And we're going to get started right away. That's why the meeting with everybody is happening. I want people to start thinking about where they can save, how we can save, because we're going to be forced to do that. And what kind of cuts can we make?
- The board approved the advertisement of the 2026 budget. Later, Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Barrett gave a report detailing average student performance in Richland Beanblossom Schools as compared to state averages. Some highlights here that I want to point out, and of course, you know, when we point these out, we also think about the good work that those teachers are doing to go above and beyond. Third grade math is 9.7% above the state average.
- Fourth grade math, 12.5% above the state average, and seventh grade ELA came in at 10.9% above the state average. I think that really goes to show to the work that those grade levels are doing in terms of professional learning communities, really looking at their data, figuring out where those students are, meeting them where they are, and using those tiered supports to make sure that our students are growing.
- We also had some significant growth from 2024 to 2025, and that was in seventh grade math in ELA. So seventh grade team is just rocking and rolling there. And we had two watch areas over the last couple of years, and that was fifth grade and eighth grade math. And it was good to see that both of those areas did increase from the 24 to 25 year.
- Additionally, special education students reading at a third grade level have increased from 33.3% in 2023 to 69.4% in 2025. BEHR also gave details about SmartPass, a new system replacing FlexTime, which allows students to sign up to meet with teachers one-on-one for reteaching purposes. The system also allows students to sign up for passes, which allow them to be absent from class
- during specific predetermined periods. Bear explained the purpose of the system. And so one of the things that you'll see in here is that
- The smart pass will allow up to two passes per day per student to come out of one of their seven classes or two of their seven class periods. This is in addition to their passing periods that we encourage them to use bathroom. We encourage them to stop by the office if you need to pick up a form. So it's giving them two out of their seven periods every single day that if they have a need that they need to take care of, they can go and do that.
- In addition to that, we wanted to make sure parents understood that any student with an IEP, a 504, a health plan, where we have accommodations written in that are individualized, you know, a student with a kidney disorder who may need to go to the bathroom more frequently than two or three times a day, those are gonna be written in and those allowances, of course, would be given for those students. Next, Dr. Sanders announced his plan to expand his Soup with the Soup program, which allows parents to enjoy dinner with
- superintendent and discuss their thoughts on various topics related to the school. He hopes for up to 50 parents to attend the next meeting, which is planned to be held in late September.
- The Bloomington City Council met on August 18th for the first round of their 2026 budget hearings. Mayor Kerry Thompson provided an overview of the city budget, making note of changes related to Senate Enrolled Act 1. That piece of legislation will likely increase local income taxes across the state.
- This year alone will experience a loss of about $1.4 million with local income taxes, we know it, phasing out by 2028. While we're not in as dire a situation as many other cities, this is going to affect us by tens of millions of dollars in the next three years on an annual basis.
- Our residents with higher property values may be seeing a slight decrease in property taxes, but those with moderately priced homes will likely actually see those property taxes increase, even though the city is not receiving more funding. Additionally, our ability to bond has been significantly impacted by SEA 1.
- We have no possibility of new GO or general obligation bonds until one full year after our current bond is complete. SEA 1 means that we will need to do less with less. It's not a year that you're gonna see big new programs, and unfortunately, it's not a time that we are able to step in as a city government
- and fill the funding gaps that our community is experiencing elsewhere. Thompson discussed how the city plans to implement a priorities-based budget which looks at aligning resources to programs and services as opposed to departments. Our goal is to have a comprehensive system eventually that evaluates the effective programs and their ability to meet outcomes.
- and then to allocate fiscal resources accordingly. So an outcomes-based budget is really the fiscal end of driving government by outcomes. The first step of the implementation, of course, was to identify our priority areas. And we did that in collaboration with the council. The priority areas are listed on the screen. We'll be talking about high-performing government this evening.
- Later this week, you'll hear about affordable housing and homelessness and economic development. Later, we'll hear about public safety, then community health and vitality, and finally, transportation. We've completed this first step, and this is really the only step that we've fully completed so far. And this is really our learning year. We are expecting mistakes. We are expecting
- and hoping that we all fail forward together and we figure out what bumps there are in the road and how we can improve this process together and frankly that we presume goodwill, that we're all working towards a city that works really well through this budget process.
- Council member Andy Roth asked what the mayor meant by fulfilling existing commitments. Thompson elaborated on some of her administration's priorities when it comes to projects that are already set in motion. The phrase fulfill our existing commitments is being the highest priority. Can you elaborate a little bit on commitments? I mean, there are plans, there are
- There are necessities. People are expecting we'll be plowing the streets and picking up trash, but can you elaborate a little more on commitments? Yeah, I'll say that on that slide there were three different priorities. I'm not sure that those are in order, but
- We have logistics building for fire that's halfway complete. We would be wasting resources if we did not finish that.
- We also though have, we have other building projects that have been planned and anticipated. They're not funded yet and I don't know that we're going to be able to fund them but the city needs them and we would like to be able to fund them eventually. Those will not be budget questions though, they'll be bond questions in the future.
- Councilmember Hopi Stasberg questioned the mayor on what communication she's had with other government entities such as the city council and the public school board to tackle priorities in collaboration with one another. I appreciate that you went into some detail about
- What you consider those core services that only the city can do because I was going to ask about that but i'm also um interested to know if kind of as one unit of local government aka the city How much communication you've had right now would say county council county commissioners and mccsc because in theory, I mean all of us are um
- government bodies of one kind or another. And so when we think about that bucket of things that only government bodies can manage to provide our residents with, I think that we really need to work together with those entities. So has your administration had any meetings with any of those folks yet specifically about tackling financial times and making sure that we're not duplicating services or missing services?
- We have had conversations with MCCSC and members of County Council, no formal meetings with the body. But every elected official that I have met with agrees collaboration is key right now. The City Council's departmental budget hearings are ongoing and will resume on August 25th.
- And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.