and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners announced that they will indefinitely postpone the eviction
of a homeless encampment on the county-owned Thompson property during their meeting on December 11th.
This signals that they are abandoning the original December 15th deadline to evict people from the county
property. Commissioner Julie Thomas said Sheriff Ruben Marte refused to enforce the proposal. She added
that while she sees the encampments as trespassing, she recognizes that this is a community
that needs to be addressed. We fervently believe people are safer and healthier when they live indoors,
especially during the winter months. We have worked with Health Net, the City of Bloomington, and local
not-for-profits and community groups to identify reasonable accommodations for people who currently
reside on the Thompson property. Let's be clear, there are people trespassing.
on county property and there are no appropriate public health sanitary facilities present. The sheriff
has indicated that he will not remove people from the Thompson property at this juncture. Our hands
are tied. We fear the worst, but we hope for the best. There is a broader community issue that this
is a symptom of.
We will be part of the solution, but it will require that we, along with the county council and the
city of Bloomington, the mayor's office and the city council need to work together. This is a community
problem and we recognize that.
During public comment, executive director of hotels for homeless, Katie Norris warned the commissioners
about the dangers of evicting encampments in the cold weather. I come to you today to desperately plead
for an extension on this eviction, not on behalf of the dozens of people who are currently living at
this camp.
You have already heard and understand the devastating and potentially deadly consequences this eviction
will have on them. You know that their chances of survival significantly decrease instantly upon their
eviction. How them losing the safest and most stable place they have found and worked hard to call home
will put them at greater risk for being robbed, raped, and even murdered right here at night on the
streets of Bloomington. That's not up for question. That's just reality. Not to mention,
that if the eviction takes place on Monday the 15th that the two days before when they will have to
prepare pack and leave the temperature and leave the temperatures are going to be negative one and negative
three respectively. Today I am begging for an extension on the eviction on behalf of the rest of our
community.
There is not nearly enough time today to explain the exponential negative effects our community will
suffer by displacing just over two dozen more people. Camp resident Matt Frost urged county leaders
not to issue an eviction under frigid temperatures. This whole thing has been very nerve wracking and
overwhelming for me because I go back to my tent every day and not knowing what the future is going to hold.
I'm seeing that you guys are wanting to see this eviction through not only during the winter, but so
close to the Christmas season. When we were always taught about goodwill towards our fellow man and
all this stuff in the season where we're supposed to be positive and uplifting towards the people that we have.
that are less fortunate than us. Frost continued saying an extension would remove added pressure on
him to figure out where to relocate under current weather conditions. I just. I just want a chance to
just be able to have note that I can at least sit up, sleep, stay at my tent and not. At least have
the chance to be if we get this.
that would help me get some time to get my life together. That would help me get the stuff that I need,
because I'm in a position where I know I don't want to be in this spot all the time.
But all I know is it's been overwhelming, as you can see. I'm stumbling my words here. If we can just
get this extension, it will be a lot of pressure off me. And I know it would be a lot of pressure off
the rest of the occupants out there. I know I just want an opportunity, this opportunity to just
let you guys realize how hard it's been on me. And I'm sure it's just as hard on the people or the rest
of the property. I figure I might not be able to speak for all of them personally, but I wanted you
guys to at least hear a little bit from one person's experience. The commissioners indicated verbally
that they would not pursue the planned December 15th eviction. No formal action was taken. The issue
could be brought to a vote at their next meeting on December 18th.
The Ellitsville Town Council met on December 8th and selected members for the Ellitsville Richland Township
Reorganization Committee. The committee will be tasked with making a plan for the reorganization by
June to be voted on by the public in November.
Town Manager Mike Farmer gathered a list of 22 names for the council to choose from. Council member
Dan Swafford expressed concern that he had not seen the list before the meeting and that Farmer should
have sent it to him earlier. Farmer said that he was caught off guard by Swafford's grievance because
he had vetted the names to make sure that they fit the council's criteria. The council gave Farmer the
authority to vet the list in a prior email exchange. The reason I have all these names still
is because these all seem to be names we can use for the subcommittee. And so I didn't toss, I mean,
it didn't have to be to toss any or to even, but they all fit the criteria to be on one of the committees,
so. Swafford thought the council should have had more to say in compiling the list. Kind of what I thought
too would be there'd be questions asked from these people and have them respond to us and we all look at it.
and get that kind of response and go from there. Well, I mean, this is kind of like an interview process
that we are speaking for our constituents out here that have elected us to their ward. So we have to
vote for their people to come in, our people that we want in there. You're going to give us a list of
22 names. I don't know who this person is from that person.
Farmer said that he did not know that the council would want names and qualifications to be presented
at the meeting. Swafford said farmers should have reached out before the vote. I want to know what's
going on and how we pick those people. If I'd have known that any time between now and two weeks ago,
I could have told you.
When this all started, I wanted to keep in the loop of everything. I am not calling you. You can call
me. I'm busy taking care of this. I understand that. I've been busy every day of two weeks. But what
are you going to do? And you've never called me once. You've never called me once. Mike, I have called
you and you have never called me back, but that's hearsay. That's BS. We have got to make a decision
here. So you're giving me a bunch of names that I have no reason why they've been picked, who picked
them, or what they're about.
I mean, I think we all need to know what's going on. Councilmember William Ellis gave his opinion regarding
the issue, saying Swafford should have gotten involved sooner. I called him. Scott called him because
we know as a town manager, he is not going to be sitting there picking up the phone. And as an elected
official, we're not there to be drug across the line and told exactly what to do. That is not what an
elected official does.
We're supposed to be self-starters. We don't sit there and have to beg for permission to get these things.
I asked, Mike, did you send any of these out for me unsolicited? No. No, I asked. Council member Pamela
Samples said they would get nowhere by fighting and started asking about the duties of the committee.
Farmer said that the committee would make a plan for the reorganization independent of Richland Township
and the Ellitsville Town Council.
At points, they'll have to be work sessions so the two boards can interject with their thoughts and
ideas. And that'll be where this directions might change here and there. So I think there'll be a lot
of information passed back and forth. And that's what the working sessions will be about is to help
the reorganization committee get a feel for what
the general public or at least the representatives of the general public might want in there. The council
chose Mike Kornman, Andrew Henry and William Ellis to be the town's representatives on the committee.
The Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees met on December 10th. During his monthly report,
Library Director Greer Carson said October saw the highest digital collection usage since the pandemic
in January of 2021. A total of 52,625 digital media were borrowed, including e-books, e-magazines, and
audio books. Additionally, he said that physical and digital media use outpaced the last six Octobers.
One of our biggest stories for 2025 has been the strong circulation statistics we've seen particularly
in digital circulation for the second month in a row.
Overall circulation was stronger last month than any previous November going back to 2020. As we prepare
to adopt a new collection analytics tool and in thinking about some of the patron use and seasonal patterns
you all asked about last month, we'll be looking closer at these circulation stats in 2026 to better
understand correlation, causation, and some platform specific trends that are driving our digital circulation
increases. But with that said, the bottom line is that our patrons are making greater and greater use
of our digital collection
and that our suite of digital content platforms is meeting the needs of more and more patrons. So that's
just a great thing. Carson also spoke about the Downtown Library Branch's partnership with Heading Home,
a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening housing security and ending homelessness in the region.
As we've shared previously, our partnership with Heading Home of South Central Indiana involves a diversion
and prevention case manager being stationed on site here at the Downtown Library. Our case manager,
Shaquay Norris, has been working on site and is starting to connect MCPL patrons who are at risk of
losing their housing with local agencies to help them develop a plan to avoid becoming homeless. This
position is funded by a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation to the Monroe County Community Foundation
and Heading Home of South Central Indiana.
The $7 million grant is aimed at reducing instances of homelessness in Monroe County over the next five
years. We'll have a full update on this partnership and on the work that Chiquet is doing in probably
quarter two of 2026. Carson shared updates on the library's pest control efforts, which have
shown improvements specifically in bed bug infestations. Back in 2023, MCPL developed its own policy
and procedures for mitigating pest infestations. Over these past
Over the last three years, we've refined and expanded the procedures to identify and eradicate bed bugs
in particular, which are sometimes found in return library books as well as materials on our shelves.
Now with three years of practice and success under their belts, our Circulation Services Department
gave a presentation at this year's ILF Conference on how MCPL manages this challenge that all public
libraries now face. This is the first time that our Circulation Services Department has presented at
a professional conference,
proud to celebrate their great work and well-earned accolades. Director of Finance, Gary Latalier, requested
an annual renewal to use the library for El Centro Comunal Latino, which provides services for the Latino
community in Bloomington. Board member Nancy Van Allen said that she was confused about the aim of the
culture center. Board member Jennifer Whitley provided a more detailed explanation, stating that the
business helps connect people to services in the community.
they kind of are able to connect people to whatever resource they may need. I know of this because I
used to use it a lot to promote the speech therapy services that I was providing, but they're a wonderful
resource for our Latino community. Whitley said that having El Centro at the library can introduce people
to the library's resources.
For families that are new to our community, getting them here to El Centro and then getting them here
and introducing them to our library is just phenomenal. The contract was approved by the board.
Next Director of Human Resources, Becky Throckmorton, introduced a retirement program being considered
for library employees called Hoosier Start. Throckmorton explained that this would replace the library's
existing 403B plan, but would not replace their Public Employees Retirement Fund, otherwise known as PERF.
We have been reviewing some of the benefits that we offer to staff. And one of the opportunities that
we saw as a chance to improve some benefits and offer additional retirement savings to folks was to
change our retirement plan in addition to PERF. So PERF is the one that you guys signed to renew that's
the employer contribution. Employees wanna contribute money as well to help retire.
or help save for retirement. And so we currently offer a mechanism to do that. But there's some barriers
to entry. There's not great participation. There's not a lot of education that we're able to do with
that plan. And Hoosier Start is a program that's a statewide program. It's a bigger
pool of employers that use that. There's a lot more education. They have a specific person for our region
who would come out and educate staff on how to save for retirement and plan for retirement and what
those mechanisms look like. They also are able to have a much lower fee for participating in the retirement
plan. And they also offer a couple of different options that would meet folks where they really need to
be saving for retirement. Throckmorton explained that the program has pre-tax and post-tax options and
an annual fee of $54, which would be paid by the employee. There is no fee paid by employers using the
program. She shared more about how widespread the program is in Indiana. They have
60 plus counties out of the 90 counties in Indiana. They have fire departments. They've got public libraries
that all participate. And so it's something that a lot of employers are offering that we thought would
make sense to offer for our folks as well. And then they also have the option for part-time folks to
be able to save for retirement, which is something we can't offer now. And so that would be a voluntary
enrollment for folks if they did want to save for retirement.
We are just starting the discussion, so we still have some work on our part to do. We are going to ask
them, we have already asked for contacts of other public libraries who use it so we can talk to them
and hear a little bit about how it's going and do a little bit more research. But wanted to start the
discussion with you all, see what questions you have and just kind of go from there.
Later in the meeting, Martin O'Neill, manager of Community Access Television Services, or CATS, provided
a department update. O'Neill explained that CATS is looking into using Memnon, a digital preservation
company, to help digitize their legacy tapes. Digitizing the government meetings would cost approximately
$240,000. He emphasized that they are not making a decision yet, but that it is important to consider
in maintaining the archival collection at CATS.
We feel good about them. They're here in time. We've met with them. It feels good. They have given us
a contract, but of course, we'd have Tom look that over and everything else. And again, this is just
something that we're looking into. But we know that we are contractually obligated to keep the government
stuff archived and make it available for folks online. So that's one thing. And then the tapes, our
degree are
degrading and every year that they're there, that degradation just keeps accelerating and we'd hate
to get to the stage where, you know, we have dust shitting on the shelves. The Monroe County Public
Library Board of Trustees will meet again on January 21, 2026.
The Bloomington Arts Commission met on December 10th. First, Assistant Director for the Arts,
Holly Warren, said the Arts Commission went over budget this year, pulling the remaining dollars from
the general fund.
Four grants, we spent a total of $179,483. Woohoo! Oops, we went over a little. We went over, our budget
was $167,537, and we spent an extra $11,000 and many change on budgets. And that overage just comes
from my general fund. I just pulled some money out of there. Again, I think we just all agreed that
just given the nature of things, especially for our 501
and C3s that are really feeling the cuts from the Indiana Arts Commission and other federal funders
that they deserve that extra funding. Also thanks to the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association who
gave us a little more than their $50,000 allocation this year to cover some of those funds. Warren explained
why $16,500 set aside for public art went unused. This $16,500 that we allocated for public art and
grants, we have not spent that.
And I don't think we're going to have an opportunity to get that out the door before the end of the
year. And I just want to acknowledge that the committee that was assigned the task of deciding what
to do with that funds this year has been through a lot this year. We had an unexpected change in leadership
and some other big public art projects that kept us from having the time to do this. With your permission,
what I would ask is just
allowing me to use that $16,500 to pay for some other arts expenses that I need to cover before the
end of the year. Would that be okay?
with you all. Do you want to ask questions and criticize me heavily? Nope. No. Okay. Awesome.
Thank you. And I'm happy to give you a tally of how that is spent in the new year. One commission member
asked how the money would be used. Warren said it will help cover some public art expenses, including
traffic boxes and arts grants. Money to pay vendors that helped us with some of the traffic box art
projects and other art projects. I will probably spend some of that money too on grants
both for our BAC grants, but also we give pretty large grants to Constellation Stage and Screen in the
Buzzkirk Chumlee Theater to run our city-owned facilities every year. They can always use a little kickback.
It takes a lot of money to operate those facilities. We're very lucky to have them doing that work.
So I would most likely give some of that money to them as well. Later, public art interim chair Christina
Elam gave an update on the signature public artwork for the Bloomington Convention Center expansion.
Elam said that the city combed through about 180 applications for the artwork and narrowed it to eight
finalists. Since we last met, we were able to close out the applications. I think we received 180 for
the call. Through Holly, like doing a first sweep, she was able to get that down to 60, and the Public
Arts Subcommittee, Betsy, thank you, looked through these applications.
And then we were able to kind of narrow it down even more. And so today we were able to meet with,
I guess, the CIB recommendation board and kind of get it down to like eight or whatever. So that's pretty
exciting. It's a lot of talented artists. It was not easy. And we're still finalizing things, making
sure that we're confident about the people that are going to be moving on to the final round.
So that's pretty exciting. Another commission member asked about the process behind selecting the final
candidate. Elam said that they ultimately want five candidates with a few alternates. Is there a list
somewhere of the eight? Yeah, I'd like to see that. Yeah, I will. So what I'm gonna do, so we kind of
like today we looked at the top applicants and it was actually really cool. I think there was a lot of
alignment between what the recommendation committee was gravitating towards and what the arts commissioners
gravitated towards. So that made it easier. And so what we kind of agreed on, Christina, Rob, and I,
we've seen each other many times today. And what we agreed on was we took that group and we asked the
recommendation committee today to kind of categorize people as A, B, or C. So A being like definite
finalists, Bs being maybes or alternates, and Cs being like we love y'all, but this is not the moment.
So I'm gonna share that list back with the CIB recommendation committee just so they can have and be
prepared for a discussion on Monday, but I'd happily share that with the public arts subcommittee as
well, that makes sense. Warren admitted that she's nervous about the community's reaction to the public
artwork. However, she maintained that backlash to art is inevitable. There have definitely been a lot
of conversations about, well, someone's gonna be mad. Like, you know? And I think that's also the...
It's part of public art. If everyone was happy, I think that would be a failure. I just... I swore I
would never be involved with public art. The Bloomington Arts Commission will meet again on January
14th, 2026. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.