Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. At the Monroe County Commissioner's Meeting on
September 11th, Health Department Director Lori Kelly said that emergency visits for COVID-19 cases
have remained steady.
According to a regional representative of CVS, CVS Minute Clinic locations now have the 2025-2026 COVID-19
vaccine available for those 12 and older. So individuals can inquire about this in person or you can
schedule an appointment online.
The health department still has free COVID tests available. Individuals can walk in Monday through Friday
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive free tests. And our public health clinic has vaccines available. You
can call 812-353-3244 for an appointment. Next Highway Director Lisa Ridge elaborated on her department's
request to accept a quote in order to fix cracked road ceiling in Monroe County.
By highway personnel, the lowest quote was received from RLH seal coding. The department would like
to accept the quote for crack sealing in 2025. The commissioners approved the resolution unanimously.
Later in the meeting, commissioners administrator Angela Purdy presented a resolution for a $6 million
general obligation bond. Purdy shared what the funds would be used for. This is a resolution for a proposal
of a $6 million bond.
This projects are specifically for, so this bond is to cover the following projects and their county
public improvement needs. Fees associated with the issuance of the bond, design plans for the improvements
at the Monroe County Airport, remodeling of the showers building specifically for our voter registration
and early voting and
improvements within our Youth Services Bureau, our nature preserve, the courthouse ground, and emergency
management has a need for additional sirens, and we're looking at cameras and other non-lethal force
equipment for the sheriff. There's some additional need for some furniture, tools, and equipment by
our aviation department. So these are all related to improvements and the incidental expenses
in connection with these improvements are part of this proposed bond. The approval is for up to six
million. That gives the council the ability to determine an actual rate, an amount for this particular
bond. Purdy said this large bond would be spread out over six years covering all the items she listed.
This bond is
due to recent changes in Indiana code must be longer than five years. And so this would be a $6 million
bond over six years. What we have done in the past has been a $3.1 million bond each year. And so that
gets paid off that year, the following year. So this kind of drags it out.
worse when you hear the word six versus 3.1 but the effect to the our community is spread over a longer
period of time and it's smaller. The commissioners approved the resolution which will now be sent to
the county council for a final vote.
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Thomas said that there will be a celebration for Lake Monroe on September
14th. The festivities will include live music, food, and a cash bar in celebration of the lake's 60th
anniversary. And I know there's Lake Monroe Day celebration at the fields on Sunday, and I don't remember
what time.
The commissioners will meet again on September 25th. The Bloomington City Council had a deliberation
meeting with members of the public to learn more about the housing needs of city residents. Before beginning
the meeting, Council President Hopi Stasberg shared how they define neighborhoods. Residents were broken
up into smaller groups to discuss amongst themselves their housing wants and needs.
After they all had the opportunity to discuss, representatives from each group shared the general consensus
of their housing priorities and concerns. Council Member Sydney Zulek shared insight gleaned from her
breakout group. I was in group six, best group ever. We had realtors, we had builders, we had homeowners,
we had renters, we had Monroe County residents, Bloomington residents, so we got some good stuff.
Everyone had some pretty similar ideals for what they were looking for when they approached housing
So there were some people whose needs were met because they were getting them and some people whose
needs were not met because they weren't and that is all about housing affordability walkability ability
to live near loved ones ability to own a home or
A lot of what we encountered was there was a lot of people who enjoy the Bryant Park neighborhood and
the different neighborhoods near campus where they can walk to work. And unfortunately, the affordable
housing is not necessarily near there, especially if you're looking to buy. And so that was a lot of
what we talked about in terms of what we look for in housing. And then we ran up against a couple
issues in terms of ADUs and just ability to build ADUs and then sell them once they're built due to
lot sizes, which is a very complicated issue that I am probably not the best person to explain to you,
but we will get there someday.
Essentially we talked a lot about how we are missing the middle ground housing and that there are a
lot of different people who are looking for around the $300,000 range maybe older folks who are looking
to size down or Younger folks who are looking to buy their first home a lot of them are looking for
the exact same kind of type of housing and that is what Limits it as well. So a lot of it is density and
City zoning planner David Brent as said his group consisted of a majority of homeowners and a few renters
He explained the concerns expressed in his group including public safety transportation and a desire
to live within the city So we had we had a variety of different takes on Housing issues in our group.
We did have majority homeowners as well as
A couple of renters, but it was majority homeowners and then some of them expressed That they felt a
little bit trapped, you know, maybe they wanted to get away from crime in their neighborhood or they
wanted to be in a larger house or have
or have more access to sidewalks, transit, more restaurants or amenities like close by. So some of that
public infrastructure is what they were looking for. And then we also noted that just amongst everyone
in the group there was
a strong desire to live within the city So they did they did like their They did like being in the city
and wanted to stay there. But when we were talking about moving around to different parts of the city
Price was an issue of finding the right housing type that they wanted at that particular time so we
discussed kind of a lack of options or lack of stepping stones to
the goal of home ownership, if that's your goal, or to own a different type of home. Maybe that's a
single family home in a neighborhood that has more influence and is able to get those amenities that
they want and the maintenance of their infrastructure that they would desire.
at their neighborhoods standards. Council member Isak Asari said that he was in a mixed group of renters
and homeowners. He said both demographics expressed concern about the affordability of home ownership.
Our group included renters and homeowners. And the message was clear amongst us. I think that Bloomington
faces lots of pressures on housing, straining families, students, neighborhoods. Affordability was at
the heart of it, of the things that we discussed. Single-family homes now being out of reach for many,
medium home prices, far outpacing income growth, property taxes doubling since COVID, et cetera.
One of the things that we spent a lot of time talking about our neighborhood concerns, how they're sort
of adding to the pressures, lots of investor-owned rentals, changing to the character of blocks. We
also talked a little bit that came up questions, sort of these overlapping questions about encampments
and safety concerns, concerns around city projects, et cetera. So we had a broad, wide-ranging conversation
around sort of our interest and needs in housing. We offered a wide range of
solutions and ideas for the future. In terms of housing supply and diversity, people talked about starter
homes, diversity of houses, condominiums, duplexes, family-friendly rentals, not just student housing,
interest a little bit in density in particular places, though not interest in taller buildings. So some
tension there. Policy tools, we talked about things like land trust, land
banks, rental caps, limits on how many homes can be owned by investors, parking
permitting questions, particularly for houses without driveways near campus. I think there is more on
the side of people concerned about us building houses without parking minimums, accessible loans to
new people, and even rent control, even though that's illegal. Forum-based zoning was discussed to shape
the look and feel of neighborhoods, loosening restrictions to allow density where it makes sense. Director
of Housing and Neighborhood Development
Killian Hansen shared that residents in her group would like the opportunity to downsize.
As far as if housing was meeting the need, most owners did say that their housing was meeting their
needs, especially if they were smaller houses. If there were larger houses, they felt like maybe it
was not meeting their needs or they would like the opportunity to downsize, but they were stuck by golden
handcuffs right now with low interest rates. Killian Hansen added that homeowners who said their housing
was meeting their needs had purchased their homes many years ago.
when housing prices and interest rates were much lower. And I would also say that as far as meeting
needs, one of the themes that I saw was that when people were happy with the housing type that they're
in right now, they also were able to purchase them for 60 or $75,000 many years ago and adapt the house
to be what they want it to be now currently. That's not an option. A second housing-focused deliberation
meeting will be held on November 12th.
The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability met on September 9. Commission member Tara Dunderdale proposed
an amendment to a resolution for the Bloomington Urban Forestry Plan. The amendment would change the
language to align with the city's existing policy. I pulled up the Bloomington Urban Forestry Plan,
which the amendment that I'm going to propose,
a lot of the we had a few different amendments that it turns out are all covered in what bloomington's
urban forestry plan says the goal of their urban forestry department is so my recommendation for an
amendment to this is to say whereas the city of bloomington
says this already and just use the text of their documentation because they address all the things that
we talked about like human health, equity, healthier neighborhoods, things like that. So it's already
part of city policy that they maintain the urban canopy to those benefits so that to minimize the number
of amendments but also to point out that this is already
language that the city has adopted and this is already an area of intended investment from the city.
Dunderdale also explained how preventative tree maintenance reduces the cost of reactive tree maintenance
like trees falling across roads and on buildings. Commission member Jamie Scholl asked whether the recent
stronger storms that have been hitting Bloomington have led to an increase in costs to the city. Dunderdale
responded.
With these massive storms, were you able to find any information of how much cost the city had laid
out for some of these massive storms? For those instances? Yes, because the cost of hiring contractors,
like you said, is going to be a lot more than that. So I wondered if there was a cost comparison of
how that has increased, which would then offset, make it a convincing argument for
this amount to be approved? Yeah. I mean, that's a good question. We're not actually proposing a specific
dollar amount so much as we're proposing that they effectively the dollar amount has not changed. And
so they've just continued the city has continued to approve roughly the same amount, but the sort of
like value of that. And so we're not proposing a specific dollar amount so much as like higher than
now. Yeah.
Um, and also that it should like, you know, continuing to think about, I think we're sort of side long
saying what Dave was saying earlier, which is that you can't, like, if you cut today because it's going
to save you some money today, you may be, uh, paying more later and that the cost could be much greater.
Yeah. We think that the sort of like implications could be much worse. The commission voted in favor
of amending the resolution.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on Tuesday, September 9th. Assistant Director for the Arts,
Holly Warren, from the Bloomington Department of Economic and Sustainable Development, requested approval
for the annual Wrapped in Love public art installation. The program wraps trees in handmade sweaters
with art, symbols, and or language knitted into them. Warren explained that speech is exempt from the
artwork because of the right-of-way policy.
Starting in 2023 the city began a partnership with wrapped in love because the city's
policies aligned with the perspective of Middle Way House that folks deserve resources when they are
in a crisis. And when that took effect, basically what that means is that all of the art and the globally
recognized symbols on those sweaters, as well as any language either on the sweaters or on the placards,
become government speech. And when that happens, that means that that speech is actually exempt from
our art in the right-of-way
So that means that any globally recognized symbols or language that are represented as part of this
installation are okay. The art will be installed starting September 15th and remain on the trees through
January 15th, 2026. The request was approved unanimously by the board.
Transportation Demand Manager Jeff Jackson from the Economic and Sustainable Development Department
requested the board's approval to renew the license for their micro-mobility company, Bird. Board President
Kyla Cox Deckard asked if there were any plans or concerns about ridership versus number of vehicles.
Jackson shared information from the company on the number of trips per vehicle.
Just a little over 58,000 trips on e-scooters over the last year and just over 5,000 e-bike trips, so
about 9% are e-bike trips. According to Jackson, Bird currently has 500 units in the city of Bloomington
and plans on adding another 200 by October 1st.
Public Works Director Adam Wason added that the Board also has access to the ridership data as it comes
in and that they could make adjustments to the number of vehicles hosted by the City as needed.
Vice President Elizabeth Caron inquired about vehicles being left on sidewalks. Wason said that there
are fewer instances overall since the installation of e-vehicle parking corrals. He also explained that
the City is continuing to enforce parking for e-vehicles that are parked incorrectly.
Over 350 fines were issued since the beginning of the year this year, you know when when staff sees
Improperly parked scooters they issue the fines. They get the fines have been collected They're tending
to happen outside of the core of the downtown because of the corrals being successful So, you know my
hope always was as we got the corrals built we could focus more on the neighborhoods where we hear from
the Residents that are trying to walk on the sidewalks that we're encountering the things You know,
I know there are still
there are still violations occurring. When we get word of them, we go and respond. But I couldn't tell
you exactly if the number of complaints has gone up or down, but we could pull a report on that for
sure. Wason said that it has been nice to have one handler for all of the e-bikes and scooters, and
that there have been fewer issues since reducing the number of vendors. I'm excited now that we have
one vendor. We have one point of contact.
You know when we had the three in the four vendors when we were first responding to this it was Very
much that disruptive technology approach to everything. I think we've got a better handle on it. It's
not perfect They still are out in public in traffic all the things but I think it's gotten better overall
and I think with having the one vendor will still be able to even Fine-tune it make it better. They're
talking about putting in new corrals that they're going to be required to put in and thinking about
location so
Hopefully, you know we we continue to lessen those number of instances where they're causing an issue
whether accessibility or otherwise President Kyla Cox Decker asked if the city felt satisfied with safety
information from bird especially for people new to the city and to using the scooters Jackson said that
bird has done a good job of responding to safety concerns birds been very responsive the safety requirements
outlined in the package they
Show up to events when when requested and other times that they schedule themselves They give away free
helmets and do demo rides or do training for the for the e-bikes knee scooters. So the other part of
having one vendor is that they've been very responsive and Both with responding the new reports and
meeting their safety requirements and obligations the request to renew birds license was approved and
The Ellisville Town Council met on September 8th and approved a loan from the People's State Bank to
fix a leak in the fire department's roof. The roof replacement will cost just over $116,000. Chief Kevin
Patton spoke to the board about the loan. We did get with People's State Bank and they drew up the paperwork.
We're doing a three-year note. I do not have any intentions of it lasting that long.
So basically we just need approval to go forward with this. It's what we discussed in the last meeting.
The loan will be repaid through the cumulative building and equipment fund, meaning it won't cause an
increase in taxes. The next Ellisville Town Council meeting will be held on September 22nd. And that
is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.
families in Monroe County. A contribution to children who are vulnerable and in need of an advocate.
A staff that goes above and beyond to support and advocate for children in need of services. The web
of remarkable people who are dealing with difficult situations. So many young people that are in need
of help and trying to find a stable family.
able place to live. Without the CASAs, to make that happen, many of them would be unable to find a good
home. I love being that voice for the child who can't speak for themselves in court. It takes me out
of my comfort zone and it also helps others. CASA means supporting our community. Being a CASA is making
sure that your village is healthy and whole and that the children in your village