WEBVTT 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:11.031 - Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. At the Monroe County Board of Health meeting 00:00:11.031 --> 00:00:17.481 - on September 18th, Dr. Michael Teague, a new appointee by the county commissioners, introduced himself 00:00:17.481 --> 00:00:22.302 - to the board. I'm a primary care physician in Bloomington and have been with 00:00:22.466 --> 00:00:28.688 - IU Health for roughly 13 years. I'm also the physician leader for primary care. So one of the things 00:00:28.688 --> 00:00:35.281 - I've been doing is a lot of the hiring of the physicians and the nurse practitioners and trying to address 00:00:35.281 --> 00:00:41.996 - a variety of the access needs that we have that are across the country, but also of course, very complicated 00:00:41.996 --> 00:00:48.588 - here as well. So I do that a lot. I did my residency at Franciscan up in Indianapolis and I did my medical 00:00:48.588 --> 00:00:51.422 - school and undergraduate here in Bloomington. 00:00:51.618 --> 00:00:58.664 - And so now I've lived in Bloomington longer than I lived in Indianapolis where I was born. So this is 00:00:58.664 --> 00:01:05.572 - kind of my home. I really like it here. I'm interested in this. Just as I have been responsible for 00:01:05.572 --> 00:01:12.894 - a lot of the primary care needs within IU Health throughout the region, this felt like a nice step toward 00:01:13.026 --> 00:01:19.648 - being more available to help the community. Because I view that job and take that very seriously of 00:01:19.648 --> 00:01:26.666 - the hiring of providers and trying to sort out a lot of the complicated scheduling issues to get patients 00:01:26.666 --> 00:01:33.553 - seen and folks taken care of from taking care of the chronic disease management, keeping them away from 00:01:33.553 --> 00:01:40.638 - the hospital, all of that. This was a logical next step for, hey, I want to know what the county is doing. 00:01:40.738 --> 00:01:46.854 - But also I think it's important for the county to know what we're doing as like the largest primary 00:01:46.854 --> 00:01:53.337 - care group in the region. So I think I bring something to the table to try to help kind of come alongside 00:01:53.337 --> 00:01:58.046 - together to work together to take care of the local community. So that's me. 00:01:58.178 --> 00:02:04.971 - Next, the Board heard an update on the leak in the fluoride tank from the Bloomington Utilities Director, 00:02:04.971 --> 00:02:11.444 - Catherine Zager. Zager said that the tank has been leaking since the end of 2019. She said they hope 00:02:11.444 --> 00:02:18.302 - to develop a solution to either fix or replace the tank to provide fluoride in the drinking water by 2026. 00:02:18.722 --> 00:02:26.941 - Due to some leaks in our chemical feed system that supplies our fluoride, CBU has been unable to deliver 00:02:26.941 --> 00:02:34.769 - the recommended 0.7 milligrams per liter of fluoride since the end of 2019. Our bulk tank, which is 00:02:34.769 --> 00:02:42.676 - our larger, we have two tanks. We have a bulk tank and a day tank. Our bulk tank was relined in 2022 00:02:42.676 --> 00:02:47.294 - from a leak, but it continued to leak after that relining. 00:02:48.098 --> 00:02:54.173 - Temporary delivery systems were tried, but they pose significant safety risks to staff. With 00:02:54.173 --> 00:03:00.705 - the hydrofluorosilic acid, that is one of the most dangerous chemicals we have at our plant. And so 00:03:00.705 --> 00:03:07.238 - some of these temporary solutions were not fully safe for staff to operate. We're currently testing 00:03:07.238 --> 00:03:13.835 - all of the components of our system to determine if additional relining of our 20-year-old tank will 00:03:13.835 --> 00:03:14.750 - be effective. 00:03:15.490 --> 00:03:22.124 - We're also exploring additional options if relining the tank is ruled out. Our goal is to have a safe, 00:03:22.124 --> 00:03:28.564 - temporary, cost-effective solution finished by the beginning of 2026 so that we can safely continue 00:03:28.564 --> 00:03:35.069 - the use of fluoride. Zager said that the tank's lining and the concrete underneath it were corroded. 00:03:35.069 --> 00:03:41.574 - County health officer Sarah Ryderband asked how other counties store their fluoride. Zager said that 00:03:41.574 --> 00:03:45.310 - the storage requires consistent maintenance of the tanks. 00:03:46.402 --> 00:03:57.475 - The Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees met on September 17th. Financial Officer Gary Letelier 00:03:57.475 --> 00:04:07.922 - spoke on the library's 2026 budget and offered insights on some of the changes. The adoption of the 00:04:07.922 --> 00:04:15.966 - 2026 budget will take place at the October 15th board meeting. So in August, 00:04:16.450 --> 00:04:27.242 - We received the county's total assessed value figure for calculating the 2026 library property tax rate. 00:04:27.242 --> 00:04:37.725 - The total assessed value for 2026 is about $11.1 billion. That's a decrease of about $95 million from 00:04:37.725 --> 00:04:43.070 - last year. It's a slightly less than a 1% decrease. 00:04:43.458 --> 00:04:50.408 - The assessed value figure not only includes residential property, it also includes commercial property, 00:04:50.408 --> 00:04:56.958 - business inventory, and equipment. Next, Library Director Greer Carson shared his monthly report. 00:04:57.218 --> 00:05:02.961 - a couple of highlights. First, once upon a time, our annual summer reading program was primarily for 00:05:02.961 --> 00:05:09.159 - our youngest patrons and focused on the importance of early literacy. And while that remains the cornerstone 00:05:09.159 --> 00:05:15.073 - of our annual program, it has since grown to include all ages and audiences. Preliminary summer reading 00:05:15.073 --> 00:05:21.043 - numbers for 2025 suggest that we had our highest ever teen participation with 665 summer reading program 00:05:21.043 --> 00:05:27.184 - guides distributed to Monroe County teens. We'll hear more about this year's summer reading program from on 00:05:27.184 --> 00:05:32.803 - as part of her children's services update here in a bit, but it's really great to see more and more 00:05:32.803 --> 00:05:38.535 - MCPL teams getting into summer reading. Also in teen services, our special education classroom visits 00:05:38.535 --> 00:05:44.435 - will soon include Bloomington High School North on a bi-weekly basis. Last year we began hosting similar 00:05:44.435 --> 00:05:49.886 - scheduled visits from Tri-North Middle School, so we're happy to have BHSS join in this program. 00:05:50.914 --> 00:05:56.513 - We have replaced the Ellitsville fire door, and this is something we've had on our list for a long time. 00:05:56.513 --> 00:06:02.111 - You probably don't ever see this door unless you're in the building when there's a fire alarm or a power 00:06:02.111 --> 00:06:07.603 - outage, but it's recessed in the bulkhead, which used to be dark purple, that hangs over the threshold 00:06:07.603 --> 00:06:13.202 - as you move into the Ellitsville children's area. So we had that work done recently as kind of connected 00:06:13.202 --> 00:06:18.907 - to some of our other Ellitsville renovation work. We're glad to have that finally finished. Communications 00:06:18.907 --> 00:06:20.880 - and Marketing Director Tory Lawhorst 00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:26.656 - spoke on the library's media relations policy and some changes that have been made in order to keep 00:06:26.656 --> 00:06:33.010 - up with modern technology. At the Monroe County Public Library we are committed to transparency, consistency, 00:06:33.010 --> 00:06:39.018 - and professionalism in how we communicate with the community and the media. In today's digitally driven 00:06:39.018 --> 00:06:44.967 - world public expectations around communication have changed and so have the tools and platforms we use 00:06:44.967 --> 00:06:46.238 - to share information. 00:06:46.882 --> 00:06:52.848 - The decision to update our media relations policy was made to strengthen the way our library communicates 00:06:52.848 --> 00:06:58.758 - with the public, the media, and our community partners. As a publicly funded institution, it is critical 00:06:58.758 --> 00:07:04.443 - that our messaging is clear, consistent, and reflective of our values and responsibilities. Updating 00:07:04.443 --> 00:07:10.522 - our media relations policy was essential for several key reasons, including reflecting modern communication 00:07:10.522 --> 00:07:16.094 - channels, ensuring consistent messaging and clear expectations, designating specific spokespeople, 00:07:16.322 --> 00:07:21.214 - aligning with legal and ethical standards, and to protect patron privacy and staff. 00:07:21.922 --> 00:07:27.537 - With these reasons in mind, we put together a team of MCPL staff to provide a variety of experiences 00:07:27.537 --> 00:07:33.263 - and viewpoints to see how we could best make these updates. Next, Children's Services Manager Anhalika 00:07:33.263 --> 00:07:38.823 - Kondalaria gave an update on their programming. She shared some of the activities that children are 00:07:38.823 --> 00:07:44.383 - able to participate in at the library, like the summer reading program and games, and the ways that 00:07:44.383 --> 00:07:49.998 - these activities are beneficial to the children. So there was a fourth grader who came in and wanted 00:07:49.998 --> 00:07:51.888 - to do Battle of the Books because 00:07:51.888 --> 00:07:57.918 - they did it at school. But you can only do it in fourth grade. And so she was disappointed. She loved 00:07:57.918 --> 00:08:04.007 - it. She wanted to do it so much. So Reagan told her, fill out a comic card. We read those. We want you 00:08:04.007 --> 00:08:10.214 - to fill them out. And she's like, nothing is going to come of it. I'll do it. And so Battle of the Books 00:08:10.214 --> 00:08:16.184 - ensued. So this highlights that our staff really wants to interact with our patrons. We want to hear 00:08:16.184 --> 00:08:21.150 - what you want to do, especially from tweens. And so Battle of the Books is a trivia 00:08:21.602 --> 00:08:29.170 - Kind of like a pub trivia. They have to read 10 books over the course of about five to six months, and 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:36.517 - then they come together as a team. And we have questions for them, and they have to fill it out. We 00:08:36.517 --> 00:08:44.085 - got 21 teams, 80 participants. We had 175 people in total. So that's the audience and also the tweens. 00:08:44.085 --> 00:08:50.110 - And if anybody knows a tween, I was hoping for 10. 10 people, two teams at least. 00:08:50.498 --> 00:08:56.867 - So we were overwhelmed. As you can see, it was in our conference rooms. It's jam-packed. We did partner. 00:08:56.867 --> 00:09:02.932 - This is a great example of how our team goes out and tries to partner with the community. Next, the 00:09:02.932 --> 00:09:09.362 - manager of the library's Southwest branch, Kathy Riley, gave an update to the board where she highlighted 00:09:09.362 --> 00:09:15.548 - their cooking program for young children. We have expanded out the possibilities of what children are 00:09:15.548 --> 00:09:20.158 - capable of and hopefully modeled something that you go home and keep doing. 00:09:20.642 --> 00:09:27.476 - Oh, they're capable of wontons. What else are they capable of? What should we be trying at home to keep 00:09:27.476 --> 00:09:34.309 - doing this sort of expansion? And I was like, yeah, because we got a comment card saying, I know, like, 00:09:34.309 --> 00:09:40.946 - you know, I love my kid. I think they're capable of great things. But the possibilities of what they 00:09:40.946 --> 00:09:47.582 - are capable of at this age, I have branched out on what we're going to try at home. That's our goal. 00:09:49.858 --> 00:09:56.084 - So if you want to come to a cooking program, I highly recommend it. And if you have a three through 00:09:56.084 --> 00:10:02.435 - six year old, yeah, come. The next library board of trustees meeting will take place on October 15th. 00:10:02.435 --> 00:10:08.724 - The Bloomington City Council met on September 17th where they heard an ordinance that would increase 00:10:08.724 --> 00:10:15.386 - the city's water rate by 21%. This comes after the city's utilities service board recommended the adoption 00:10:15.386 --> 00:10:18.686 - of the ordinance during their September 8th meeting. 00:10:18.786 --> 00:10:24.756 - City Clerk Nicole Bolden provided a rundown of the legislation. This ordinance amends the rates and 00:10:24.756 --> 00:10:31.262 - charges in Title IX of the Bloomington Municipal Code entitled Water to reflect increased costs of supplying 00:10:31.262 --> 00:10:37.530 - water and services to customers and to make debt service payments on bond financing for required capital 00:10:37.530 --> 00:10:38.366 - improvements. 00:10:38.562 --> 00:10:45.362 - The council will continue discussing the water rate increase at future meetings with an expected vote 00:10:45.362 --> 00:10:52.095 - on October 22nd. The council then heard an ordinance that would create a new fund to set aside money 00:10:52.095 --> 00:10:58.961 - for fiber installation. The fund would contain $1 million, which they received from an insurance claim 00:10:58.961 --> 00:11:05.761 - due to the failures of the previously hired fiber installer. Clerk Bolden provided an overview of the 00:11:05.761 --> 00:11:06.494 - ordinance. 00:11:06.626 --> 00:11:13.519 - Ordinance 2025-34 to establish a fund for the proceeds of the surety bonds secured for work on fiber 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:20.412 - optics network for the city of Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. The synopsis is as follows. This 00:11:20.412 --> 00:11:27.510 - ordinance establishes a dedicated non-referring fund to hold the $1 million received in the surety bond 00:11:27.510 --> 00:11:35.017 - payment on bond number 1160465 was called due to failure by Meridian Infrastructure North America Corporation 00:11:35.017 --> 00:11:36.382 - Subcontractor, AEG, 00:11:36.482 --> 00:11:42.242 - to properly install fiber within the city limits. Damages were incurred by the city and certain notice 00:11:42.242 --> 00:11:48.114 - of violations were issued by the city of Bloomington engineering department against AEG, who was working 00:11:48.114 --> 00:11:54.041 - on Meridians behalf for violations of title 12 of the Bloomington municipal code regarding work performed 00:11:54.041 --> 00:11:59.913 - in the right of way. Appropriations of the funds will be requested by the city of Bloomington controller 00:11:59.913 --> 00:12:01.982 - to the city council at a later date. 00:12:02.178 --> 00:12:09.479 - City attorney Margie Rice presented the ordinance and provided some background information 00:12:09.479 --> 00:12:17.583 - on the legislation. So in 2021, the city entered into a letter of intent with Meridium to do kind of 00:12:17.583 --> 00:12:26.328 - a public private partnership to install fiber in the city of Bloomington. And a master development agreement 00:12:26.328 --> 00:12:28.414 - was signed in June of 22. 00:12:29.378 --> 00:12:38.007 - TIFF was created, what's called a SpiderTIFF, was created in June of 22, and everything sort of proceeded 00:12:38.007 --> 00:12:46.147 - from there, and fiber was starting to be installed throughout the city of Bloomington. Earlier this 00:12:46.147 --> 00:12:54.613 - year, around February, we started hearing some noise that there were some problems with a subcontractor 00:12:54.613 --> 00:12:58.846 - that Meridium had hired, which was AEG or TrueLine, 00:12:58.978 --> 00:13:07.980 - They've had some different names. So we did some due diligence, ended up, the legal department in late 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:16.807 - March filed a notice with the insurance company that held the bond for AEG True Line. So when people 00:13:16.807 --> 00:13:25.546 - do work in the right of way, they're often required to get a bond, an insurance policy essentially, 00:13:25.546 --> 00:13:27.294 - to protect the city 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:35.461 - from any damage done in the right of way. Rice continued saying that they want to create a separate 00:13:35.461 --> 00:13:43.252 - fund for the money that they received from the settlement. We filed a written notice with the insurance 00:13:43.252 --> 00:13:50.743 - company. It was Sampo International doing business as Lexan Insurance Company. And we had a million 00:13:50.743 --> 00:13:56.062 - dollar bond. And so long story short, we submitted information to them 00:13:56.450 --> 00:14:04.099 - in late March and we received a check for a million dollars on July 8th. It was given to the controller's 00:14:04.099 --> 00:14:11.316 - office. She's held it. It could just probably be deposited into the general fund. However, we would 00:14:11.316 --> 00:14:18.604 - like a separate fund to be created to hold this million dollars so that, and then we will be back to 00:14:18.604 --> 00:14:26.398 - the council to ask for appropriations of that million dollars. So tonight I'm not asking for appropriation. 00:14:26.914 --> 00:14:34.581 - We're just asking to create the fund. That million dollars will be deposited in there, and when we're 00:14:34.581 --> 00:14:42.322 - ready to come back and ask for appropriations, we'll come back. It's really too early to tell how that 00:14:42.322 --> 00:14:50.365 - money is gonna be spent. We have fines related to AEG's work in the right of way. There are actual repairs 00:14:50.365 --> 00:14:53.822 - being done in the right of way, but Meridium, 00:14:54.178 --> 00:15:00.432 - who we have the agreement with. Remember, the city never had an agreement with AEG. We had an agreement 00:15:00.432 --> 00:15:06.807 - with Meridian. They've been a great partner. So far, they have been very responsive. We've gotten another 00:15:06.807 --> 00:15:13.001 - contractor out there doing work in the right of way. They are also bonded. And repairs are being made. 00:15:13.001 --> 00:15:19.075 - I'm sure there are still issues that need to be remedied. But it's too early to tell right now where 00:15:19.075 --> 00:15:24.126 - we're going to need that million dollars, so we're not asking for an appropriation. 00:15:24.770 --> 00:15:32.431 - This is just a fun creation. I can tell you that this has been a true collaborative effort on many city 00:15:32.431 --> 00:15:39.797 - departments. So while we are the ones who started the legal action to get the bond payment, there's 00:15:39.797 --> 00:15:47.310 - been a ton of work done by engineering and public works, ITS, controller, the mayor's office has been 00:15:47.310 --> 00:15:54.750 - involved. Just a lot of different agencies or departments within the city have had to be responsive. 00:15:54.850 --> 00:16:02.421 - to getting the information to the insurance company and getting the information to the new contractor 00:16:02.421 --> 00:16:10.587 - to start doing the repairs. The ordinance passed unanimously. Next, the council heard a resolution requesting 00:16:10.587 --> 00:16:18.158 - a recommendation from the Food and Beverage Tax Advisory Commission on how to spend food and beverage 00:16:18.158 --> 00:16:22.686 - tax revenue for the Capital Improvement Board's 2026 budget. 00:16:22.786 --> 00:16:29.578 - Treasurer for the CIB, Jeff McKim, presented the resolution. You will remember that the Capital Improvement 00:16:29.578 --> 00:16:36.181 - Board presented our 2026 budget request to you a few weeks ago during your budget work sessions. Because 00:16:36.181 --> 00:16:42.785 - the CIB budget is funded by the food and beverage tax, statute requires an additional procedure specific 00:16:42.785 --> 00:16:48.382 - to that fund source. Statute requires the Common Council as legislative body of the city 00:16:48.482 --> 00:16:54.277 - to request the Advisory Commission's recommendations concerning the expenditure of any food and beverage 00:16:54.277 --> 00:16:59.962 - tax funds. The resolution in front of you would make such a request for a recommendation from the Food 00:16:59.962 --> 00:17:03.550 - and Beverage Tax Advisory Commission, otherwise known as FABTAC. 00:17:04.226 --> 00:17:10.246 - After Fabtech meets and makes a recommendation, approval of the CIB's 2026 budget will come back to 00:17:10.246 --> 00:17:16.567 - Council in the 2026 Civil City Budget Appropriations Ordinance, which is one of the three appropriations 00:17:16.567 --> 00:17:23.189 - ordinances the Council will consider during your budget adoption process. The Council approved the resolution 00:17:23.189 --> 00:17:27.102 - by a vote of 8-1 with Councilmember Kate Rosenberger dissenting. 00:17:28.194 --> 00:17:34.666 - The Richland Beanblossom School Board met on September 16th. Edgewood Junior High School counselor, 00:17:34.666 --> 00:17:41.332 - Callie Schlemmer, introduced the Lead and Learn program, which began last year. The program works with 00:17:41.332 --> 00:17:48.193 - high school students to lead a panel discussion for junior high students. Then the high school and junior 00:17:48.193 --> 00:17:55.183 - high students together attend a panel from professionals. One student, Navea Scott, expressed her gratitude 00:17:55.183 --> 00:17:58.160 - to the program for giving her more confidence 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:06.552 - in her future. The panel really taught me that it's not as scary as it looks. There are pathways to 00:18:06.552 --> 00:18:15.112 - get you to where you want to be at the end of high school and set you up for college and really going 00:18:15.112 --> 00:18:23.504 - to it really helped put an ease on my nerves and helped me figure out what I was going to do when I 00:18:23.504 --> 00:18:25.182 - got to high school. 00:18:25.538 --> 00:18:31.986 - Director of the Bloomington Success School, Christopher M.G., explained that the program seems to result 00:18:31.986 --> 00:18:38.250 - in more engaged students. So what have we seen? We've seen the questions are better. The students are 00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:44.760 - more engaged. I have my O'Neill fellow do these panels, and this is Friday morning for a college student. 00:18:44.760 --> 00:18:49.918 - They're excited to do it. The panelists, more engaged students that used to be very 00:18:50.146 --> 00:18:55.953 - at least on a middle school level, very passive, just kind of taking it in and you're like, okay, okay, 00:18:55.953 --> 00:19:01.816 - but now it's really a game changer within that. And that's something that I think everybody's benefited, 00:19:01.816 --> 00:19:07.456 - the volunteers are benefiting from just a much more rewarding experience. I think the high schoolers 00:19:07.456 --> 00:19:08.126 - just seeing 00:19:08.386 --> 00:19:13.344 - how those professionals are modeling talking to younger students is a big deal. So it works on a lot 00:19:13.344 --> 00:19:18.646 - of different levels on them. And we saw it last Friday. And it's great to be a part of this where something 00:19:18.646 --> 00:19:23.555 - as simple as career exploration has taken on this sort of innovative look that I think is ready for 00:19:23.555 --> 00:19:28.611 - the 21st century, ready for tomorrow's workforce. So I'm excited to be a part of this and help out any 00:19:28.611 --> 00:19:30.526 - way we can here at the success school. 00:19:30.722 --> 00:19:37.965 - The program will be hosting more panels in the future, which will cover topics like nutrition and culinary 00:19:37.965 --> 00:19:44.802 - arts, business and marketing, agriculture, engineering, and the trades. Superintendent Jerry Sanders 00:19:44.802 --> 00:19:51.571 - commended Edgewood Junior High School on the programs and experiences that they offer. If you think 00:19:51.571 --> 00:19:58.814 - about putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, as you put the pieces together, the picture starts to 00:19:59.074 --> 00:20:07.098 - and come to life of what you're trying to build there. And if you think about all the edgwood schools 00:20:07.098 --> 00:20:15.122 - are trying to do in terms of internships, the innovative learning center, the student run businesses, 00:20:15.122 --> 00:20:21.022 - that all this is just providing our students with knowledge and experience 00:20:21.122 --> 00:20:29.521 - so that really they're taking the guessing game out of what they wanna do someday. They're basing their 00:20:29.521 --> 00:20:37.597 - decisions, important decisions on actual factual information. And I think it's so cool that we have 00:20:37.597 --> 00:20:44.542 - students talking to students about these important issues. So great job, junior high. 00:20:44.674 --> 00:20:50.579 - Later in the meeting, the board approved a two-day training workshop for the school's mental health 00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:56.485 - team members. The training would take place over Zoom and offer follow-up consultation if they have 00:20:56.485 --> 00:21:01.918 - any questions. Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Barrett explained more about the training. 00:21:02.210 --> 00:21:08.371 - These are some strategies that we have learned about more through our IU team that comes in. They work 00:21:08.371 --> 00:21:14.472 - with our students. So Heather Ormiston is our partner there. These strategies are meant to be more on 00:21:14.472 --> 00:21:20.692 - the fly that we would use with students. What we tend to do now is more pull out. So they may come down 00:21:20.692 --> 00:21:26.913 - to the office, meet with a mental health provider for a certain period of time. And so these strategies 00:21:26.913 --> 00:21:32.176 - are about increasing the amount of time that they're actually in the classroom, so ways 00:21:32.176 --> 00:21:38.200 - that we can connect with them in passing periods, ways that we can connect with them at lunchtime so 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:41.182 - that we can maybe dig a little deeper in terms of 00:21:41.282 --> 00:21:47.169 - some mental health counseling, but not pulling them out of instructional time to do that. So that's 00:21:47.169 --> 00:21:53.233 - really what these strategies are about and the goal that comes along with that. It's a lot of language 00:21:53.233 --> 00:21:59.532 - and just how we approach students and the types of students who would respond to these strategies, because 00:21:59.532 --> 00:22:05.596 - as we know, it's not gonna fit the bill for every single student we have. Later, members of the school 00:22:05.596 --> 00:22:11.248 - board's leadership team gave updates on the Teacher Appreciation Grant, otherwise known as TAG. 00:22:11.248 --> 00:22:19.428 - limiting awards to no more than 20% of certified teachers in a district. As a result, the Indiana State 00:22:19.428 --> 00:22:27.529 - Teachers Association, or ISTA, is opposed to accepting the money. Co-president of the leadership team, 00:22:27.529 --> 00:22:35.708 - Ty McGinnis, explained the reasoning behind the decision. The general, I don't know, reasoning or logic 00:22:35.708 --> 00:22:41.214 - behind ISTA's opposition to accepting the money is that because it is 00:22:41.346 --> 00:22:49.610 - limited to 20% of teachers. We believe that this will create an environment of competition rather than 00:22:49.610 --> 00:22:57.954 - collaboration. And we know that the counter argument to that would be, well, why do we wanna leave this 00:22:57.954 --> 00:23:06.538 - money on the table? And it's just kind of a monkey's paw situation where we believe that it's more trouble 00:23:06.538 --> 00:23:07.902 - than it's worth. 00:23:08.226 --> 00:23:15.687 - President Dana Kerr ended the meeting by thanking legal accountant Christie Bartlett and Community Access 00:23:15.687 --> 00:23:22.867 - Television Services. I want to thank Christine and she worked so hard. We have so many agreements and 00:23:22.867 --> 00:23:30.047 - other things and policies going on and she's always right there to lead us in the right direction and 00:23:30.047 --> 00:23:37.790 - we appreciate her. We appreciate our friends at Cats and coming out and taking good care of us and keeping us 00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:44.079 - out there in the public's eye and so that they know what we're doing. The Richland Beanblossom School 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.142 - Board will meet again in October. 00:23:47.138 --> 00:23:54.303 - At their meeting on September 15th, the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission discussed Resolution 25-116, 00:23:54.303 --> 00:24:01.198 - the approval of an addendum regarding the property on 714 South Rogers Street. Director of the City's 00:24:01.198 --> 00:24:08.228 - Department of Housing and Neighborhood Development, Anna Killian Hanson, explained that there is a mold 00:24:08.228 --> 00:24:09.918 - problem on the property. 00:24:10.082 --> 00:24:19.254 - This is an addendum to an already passed resolution for mold mitigation at the 714 building. When they 00:24:19.254 --> 00:24:28.604 - got in there, they found that there was mold growing even on steel and just on the main level, at least. 00:24:28.604 --> 00:24:37.598 - So it's going to require an additional amount that would increase it by $50,000 for the remediation. 00:24:38.562 --> 00:24:45.920 - for a total not to exceed of $75,000. The commission moved to approve the resolution with four in favor 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:53.065 - and one opposed. Killian Hansen then spoke about a resolution with Vet Environmental Engineering for 00:24:53.065 --> 00:24:59.857 - remediation services at Hopewell. The property is contaminated with arsenic, benzene, and other 00:24:59.857 --> 00:25:06.366 - petroleum-related chemicals due to a gas station that was formerly located on the property. 00:25:06.562 --> 00:25:15.549 - As you're aware, we approved that to go in and do the remediation, contamination remediation at Hopewell 00:25:15.549 --> 00:25:24.195 - West. So primarily at the corner of 2nd and Rogers Street. Again, when they got in there, they ended 00:25:24.195 --> 00:25:33.182 - up hitting three fuel tanks. And so as a result, the costs have increased to dispose of these oil tanks. 00:25:33.666 --> 00:25:45.738 - So the original resolution was for $152,486.26. The addendum adds $63,404.33. So something that's required, 00:25:45.738 --> 00:25:57.921 - it's something that we really needed to take care of. And this is still aligning with our IDEM contamination 00:25:57.921 --> 00:25:59.486 - plan as well. 00:25:59.650 --> 00:26:07.296 - Assistant City Attorney Dana Kerr, a former environmental consultant, added his perspective on the proposal. 00:26:07.296 --> 00:26:14.381 - To me, there could be additional tanks. Under the road? Because, no, because they're, looking at the 00:26:14.381 --> 00:26:21.746 - sand board maps, when I looked at them, it looked like there were two generations of gas stations there. 00:26:21.746 --> 00:26:29.182 - The first one is shown in 1947, I believe, and it had three tanks behind the building at Sec Cate Corner. 00:26:29.474 --> 00:26:38.190 - These are along the roadway and these were 10,000 gallon tanks. In 1947 you did not use 10,000 gallon 00:26:38.190 --> 00:26:47.077 - tanks. Two, three thousand gallon tanks were more than normal. So it is possible as they continue doing 00:26:47.077 --> 00:26:55.794 - their work and go farther west that they could encounter. Now those tanks may have been removed, they 00:26:55.794 --> 00:26:56.990 - may not have. 00:26:57.186 --> 00:27:04.102 - There's just no way of knowing. I know that on one site that I had back when I did environmental work, 00:27:04.102 --> 00:27:11.219 - there was two generations of gas stations. And when they built a new building, they poured the foundation 00:27:11.219 --> 00:27:18.135 - over top of the old tanks. So the only thing I can tell you is on sites like this, you just don't know 00:27:18.135 --> 00:27:25.118 - what you're going to find until you get into them. You really don't. The resolution passed unanimously. 00:27:25.730 --> 00:27:32.378 - Killian Hansen then discussed another resolution with Vet Engineering for mold inspection at the Trades 00:27:32.378 --> 00:27:38.898 - District Garage. Essentially, as you know, I've been reporting to you guys that we've had some issues 00:27:38.898 --> 00:27:45.354 - at the Trades District Garage with the HVAC equipment. Really it started with the fact that they are 00:27:45.354 --> 00:27:51.938 - oversized and there is no hot air reheat on them. So it's short cycling instead of drying out the air. 00:27:51.938 --> 00:27:54.814 - We've had an incredibly hot and humid summer 00:27:55.330 --> 00:28:02.467 - At moments of time this summer, we had water dripping from the duct work in addition to condensation 00:28:02.467 --> 00:28:09.534 - on the walls. So we are working on a solution right now. We think we we are hoping fingers crossed, 00:28:09.534 --> 00:28:16.601 - everything crossed and got it figured out. The tenants have not been able to occupy the space right 00:28:16.601 --> 00:28:19.710 - now. They're federal subcontractors and are 00:28:20.034 --> 00:28:28.181 - tied to really specific standards. When we met with them recently, one of the things that would make 00:28:28.181 --> 00:28:36.248 - them feel better is to make sure that there's no additional mold growth going on in the building as 00:28:36.248 --> 00:28:44.637 - a result of the condensation from the HVAC units. So this particular resolution is for $1,300, 1309.38, 00:28:44.637 --> 00:28:48.670 - excuse me, for that mold testing just to confirm. 00:28:50.850 --> 00:28:57.104 - We have no signs of it. We haven't noticed anything, but we really need to do an indoor air quality 00:28:57.104 --> 00:29:03.421 - sample to confirm. That resolution also passed unanimously. The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission 00:29:03.421 --> 00:29:09.800 - will meet again on October 6th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and 00:29:09.800 --> 00:29:11.614 - WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.